Father's Day Cupcakes

For Father's Day my husband requested the Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes. I tried in vain to convince him to let me make another one, something we had never tried before but he insisted on the peanut butter ones. Being the softy I am I gave in and made him his favorite, how could I say no on Father's Day?

I started off with a Devil's Food cake mix, made it to the box specifications. When I pulled them out I put them on a wire rack to cool. I just bought a few cupcake books and one of them says to cool the cupcakes on wire racks so they cool evenly. Something I hadn't thought of before.

After the cupcakes were cooled I took a steak knife and hollowed out the middles. I know some people take apple corers and take out a middle but I haven't reached that stage yet. So for now the steak knife works fine.

For the filling I mixed 1 cup of peanut butter with 1/2 cup powdered sugar and then 1/4 cup milk. I have to admit when I poured the milk in and started to mix it I started to worry. It just didn't seem like it was going to come together. Slowly it started to mix and look much better. The end result looked great but after eating the cupcake I wished I had made the filling a little thinner. The next time I make them I'll increase the milk.

I then took the filling and put it into the cupcakes. This part you might get messy on. I had to use my fingers to get the filling off the spoon, here's where having the filling a little thinner would have been nice. You could use two spoons, one to dish out the filling and the other to scrap it off the first spoon, if you don't want to get messy.

The next stage is to frost! The frosting I used was the basic buttercream frosting with 1 cup of peanut butter mixed in.

I designed the cupcake topper.

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

I decided to make these cupcakes because my husband, J loves peanut butter cups. I had a dinner at my church and I signed up to take a dessert so what could be better than peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes? Before I went I asked my Dad if he wanted any but he said that he'd wait until after that there would be some left over. How were we supposed to know they'd all be gone? That almost never happens.
After having the S'more cupcakes under my belt, these ones went much faster. I already had in mind what I wanted them to be so it was just a matter of making them.
I just used a chocolate cake mix again, making it the way the box told me. I used a basic buttercream recipe and added in 1/2 cup peanut butter. I wanted the frosting to be a more mellow peanut butter flavor. Nothing overwhelming. The filling was my own creation. I used one cup peanut butter and then added some powdered sugar and milk. I wanted the filling to be creamy and I wanted the peanut butter flavor to be stronger so I used just a little powdered sugar. I didn't measure the peanut butter or milk. Just eye balled it.
After the cupcakes were cooled I took the steak knife and cut out a cavity in the cupcake. I put about a tablespoon of the peanut butter filling in and then put the top back on. After I filled all the cupcakes I melted chocolate chips and smothered the top of the cupcake. Then I frosted the top of the cupcake with the peanut butter frosting. After I frosted it I chopped up some peanut butter and chocolate chips and put them on top.
I had several people compliment the cupcakes, definitely a winner.