Peanut Butter and Chocolate. Need I say more?

I think I am one of the rare people that is not a huge fan of the peanut butter and chocolate combination. Yes, I enjoy eating several Reese's cups in one sitting, but anything besides that has never really been at the top of my favorites list; I think this is because I feel the peanut butter over powers everything. So when I came across these cupcakes, I went into it knowing I would probably not love these (which meant I would eat 2 instead of 10).



I found the recipe from My Baking Addiction, but I strayed from it a bit. I used the same frosting recipe but a different cake.

(I will post the recipe for that at the end of this entry.)

Here are the cakes all baked up

They were just a plain chocolate but were moist and really fluffy

Next came the frosting. It was a basic cream cheese-based frosting with the exception of an entire cup of peanut butter. Seeing the huge amount of peanut butter in this made me not even want to try the batter before I frosted the cakes.

But then I frosted them...

Then I added the peanut butter cups, and I couldn't resist anymore

I finally caved in and gave them a try. I was extremely surprised at how balanced these were! The frosting is super creamy and lends a good but subtle peanut butter taste. The added bonus of the Reese's cup on top... well that just put the goodness over the edge!

The changes I made to this recipe was for my benefit. For one, they seemed like a lot more work than the cake recipe I used, and second, I didn't want the extra peanut butter cups in my cakes. If you are normal and like the extra amount of peanut butter goodness, then I would definitely give her cake recipe a try! But, if you are weird like me, here is the recipe I used for the cakes:
(makes 24-27 cakes)
2 Cups sugar
1 3/4 Cups flour
3/4 Cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 Cup whole milk
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 Cup boiling water
-Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt
-Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute
-Stir in boiling water
-Fill liners 2/3 full and bake for 22-24 minutes @ 350

This recipe is also from, "My Baking Addiction," I just could not find the link on her page.
These were pretty easy to make and I was really happy with how they turned out. I gave them to my students the next day and they pretty much inhaled them, so I would say they are definite crowd pleasers. :)