These Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes have a rich dark chocolate cake and a fluffy peanut butter frosting, all in a perfectly portioned bite!
Most of the cupcake recipes I’ve found online are for, at a minimum, 18-24 cupcakes. I developed this recipe for those times when I don’t feel like supplying the neighborhood with baked goods. I just want enough cupcakes to feel like maybe I shouldn’t eat another cupcake, but oh look there’s only 4 cupcakes left, I better eat another before they’re all gone. Like, that many cupcakes.
I also made the recipe for an appropriate amount of frosting to frost these cupcakes and then turn around and stick one spoonful of frosting in your mouth before giving someone else the bowl to scrape with their finger. So, a “love yourself” amount of frosting. Stick with me guys, I got all the tricks 🤫
Love cupcakes?
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Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
Equipment
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour 169 g
- ½ cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder 41 g
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine grain kosher salt
- ½ cup brewed coffee 120 g
- ½ teaspoon instant espresso
- ½ cup buttermilk 120 g
- ½ cup canola or other neutral oil 120 g
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup granulated sugar 100 g
- ¼ cup brown sugar
Peanut Butter Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter 113 g, at room temperature
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter 192 g
- 2 cups powdered sugar 240 g
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
Garnishes (optional)
- chopped peanuts
- chopped peanut butter and chocolate candies
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard size muffin pan with muffin cup liners.
- Brew coffee. Dissolve instant espresso in hot coffee. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and eggs with the sugars.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, alternating with the coffee and stir until just combined; do not overmix. The batter will be thin.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, place ¼ cup of batter in each cupcake liner, filling them about ⅔ full.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes, turning your pans around halfway through. They are done when a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out almost completely clean. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and let cool completely on a cooling rack.
Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and peanut butter on low speed until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, beating until smooth. Add in the milk and increase mixer speed to medium and beat until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Frost your fully cooled cupcakes by whatever method you are comfortable using. That can mean just using a butter knife to schmear a good dollop of frosting over the tops, or you can use a plastic zip top bag or a piping bag fitted with a tip and pipe the frosting on top in swirls or dollops. Finally, you can garnish the tops of your cupcakes fancy-like with chopped peanuts or, like me, crush up some Reese’s Crunchers and sprinkle them on top. It’s all delicious and headed straight for a mouth near you 😋
The nutritional and caloric information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It does not assert or suggest that readers should or should not count calories, and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s or doctor’s counseling.
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