Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
These dark chocolate cupcakes are loaded with rich chocolate flavor, and topped with a light and creamy peanut butter frosting. If you are a chocolate/peanut butter fan, these are your jam!
I have a secret that I’m about to blab. It’s about me. And it’s a doozie. It’s going to rock your world…
I don’t really like cake…
Shhh…
Can you believe it? It’s the truth. Hard to fathom, with all those cakes that I decorate.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I will eat cake. But it pretty much ranks at the very, very bottom of the dessert hierarchy for me. Given options, I would choose pretty much anything over cake. Now, if you’re talking cheesecakes, flourless chocolate cakes, coffee cakes, crumb cakes, and things of that nature, well then that’s a whole different ballgame. But regular cake? Like birthday cake-cake? Meh. It’s just never really been my cup of tea.
But what I do love is frosting. And phenomenal frosting can absolutely make my day. Peanut butter or cream cheese frosting? It may as well just be Christmas. As a result, I love cupcakes because I can pile them sky-high with dreamy frosting and enjoy each and every bite. These dark chocolate cupcakes are a dream come true for anyone who is a cake or frosting lover – they are truly the best of both worlds.
These cupcakes are insanely rich and moist, and are made using the same type of method used for making brownies – melted chocolate is added to a whisked mixture of eggs and sugar, and then flour is stirred in.
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The resulting batter almost resembled a mousse; both thick and light. It creates incredibly moist cupcakes that also have a light and fluffy texture.
And the frosting. Oh the frosting. Bestill my heart.
I have been using this recipe for a couple of years now (how has it never made it on here before?!), mostly as a filling for chocolate cakes. But on top of cupcakes? Where I purposefully try to create a 2:1 frosting to cupcake ratio? AH-MAZING.
I cannot make this without taking spoonful after spoonful out of the bowl before decorating. It’s seriously irresistible.
Sometimes I’m tempted to make it to just have. Smeared on toast? Used as a dipping vessel for bananas or apples? So many possibilities. The “secret ingredient” in this frosting, just as in the Easy Vanilla Bean Buttercream, is the heavy cream. It creates a smooth and fluffy frosting that is easy to slather or pipe on.
If you are a fellow chocolate/peanut butter-aholic, you will love, love, LOVE these cupcakes. Put them on your baking list NOW!
Can’t Get Enough? More Favorite Chocolate/Peanut Butter Recipes:
- No Bake Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Cookies
- Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars
- Peanut Butter Cup Overload Cake
- Salted Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Buckeye Brownies
- Peanut Butter-Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips
One year ago: Sweet and Sour Chicken
Two years ago: Fresh Strawberry Tart
Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
- 2 ounces (56.7 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- ½ cup (43 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- ¾ cup (93.75 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) baking powder
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) table salt
- ½ cup (115 ml) sour cream
For the Peanut Butter Frosting
- 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
- 1 cup (258 g) creamy peanut butter
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) kosher salt
- ⅓ cup (79.33 ml) heavy cream
Instructions
- Make the Cupcakes: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat to 350 degrees F. (If you are using a non-stick muffin pan, heat the oven to 325 degrees F.) Line standard-size muffin pan with baking cup liners.
- Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. (Alternately, you can microwave the mixture at 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted.) Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogeneous and thick.
- Divide the batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.
- Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove the cupcakes and set on wire rack to cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.
- Make the Peanut Butter Frosting: Place the powdered sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.
- Assemble the Cupcakes: Frost the cupcakes with an offset spatula, or with a decorating tip (I used a Wilton 1M tip). Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Since first making these cupcakes, this chocolate cupcake recipe has become my favorite. Feel free to use either!
- If you do not have sour cream, you can substitute plain yogurt or buttermilk.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
[photos by Whitney Wright]
I made these cupcakes and they are absolutely amazing. It impressed my guests thats for sure. One thing I did do to give it that extra wow factor on the look was made some peanut brittle and stuck a shard of that in the icing.
thanks for the reply.another thing, after making any kind of frosting will i chill them before using? how many minutes?
Hi Monica, No, you do not (and actually should not) need to chill frosting before using, unless a recipe specifically states that you must.
Hello, it’s my 1st time here. I am not a professional baker but I love baking simple recipes. Just want to ask if what’s the alternative of sour cream in this recipe or is it ok if there’s no sour cream? It’s hard to find sour cream here.
Thanks.
Hi Monica, You can’t simply leave it out, but you could substitute buttermilk or plain yogurt in its place.
I NEVER write a review for recipes I use but this one forced me to come here and write one. This cupcake was the best cupcake I ever had. The cupcakes came so good that my family really appreciated it. My 9 yr old son is quite fond of baking and he helped me in this recipe. He followed the instructions to the T except that we used Yoghurt instead of sour cream and we did not have bittersweet chocolate so we skipped that altogether, still the cupcakes came really awesome. We did add chocolate chips though. When we were preparing the batter my son exclaimed how silky the batter looked! Thank you very much for sharing this recipe. Will try other recipes too.
Where can I buy espresso powder?? I can never find it anywhere. I live in Minneapolis, MN
Hi Chelsea, I find it at a local Italian grocery store here. I have also purchased it from King Arthur Flour and Amazon.com in the past.
My cake wasn’t moist at all. in fact it was really dry. Though the frosting was to DIE for ! Any tips for next time?
I thought I’d share my version of this (fantastic) recipe, which has been converted to Australian measurements and Australian equivalent ingredients, for any Aussies out there, since measurements are different between the US and Australia:
Ingredients
Cupcakes
113.4g unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
57g bittersweet chocolate, chopped
42.5g Dutch-processed cocoa powder
106.3g plain flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
148.8g white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon table salt
113.4g sour cream
Peanut butter frosting
90g icing sugar
100g smooth peanut butter
30g unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/6 cup of pure cream
Method
1. Preheat oven to 160°C, fan forced. Line a 12 hole muffin pan with 12 paper cases.
2. Combine the butter, chocolate and cocoa in a medium heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan containing barely simmering water. Heat the mixture until the butter and chocolate are melted, and whisk until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.
3. Whisk the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder in a small bowl to combine.
4. Whisk the eggs in another medium bowl to combine. Add the sugar, vanilla and salt until fully incorporated.
5. Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and whisk until combined.
6. Sift in one-third of the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture, and whisk until combined.
7. Whisk in the sour cream until combined, and then add in the remaining flour mixture. Whisk until the batter is homogenous and thick.
8. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin pan cups. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. If making mini-muffins, bake for 9-10 minutes.
9. Cool cupcakes in the muffin pan on the wire rack for 15 minutes. Then place the cupcakes onto the wire rack to cool before icing, which should take 30 minutes.
10. To make the peanut butter frosting, place the icing sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on a medium-low speed until creamy, scraping the bowl down with a rubber spatula. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.
11. Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes after they have cooled down.
can i substitute heavy whipping cream for half and half? Pppppppplllllllleeeeeeaaaaaasssssseeeee reply soon!!!!!
Hi Margaret, Yes, I think that would be fine.
Thanks Michelle, that was really helpful! Though when I went to make the cupcakes they turned out to be dry? I had same problem as Nika.
hi,
I tried these once and they came out really delicious! then I tried them again after a few weeks and they were different, although I did all the same as before. I don´t know what´s wrong, but they came out spongy and dry.
how do you make a chocolate cupcake that is moist as well as fluffy at the same time?
btw, I love your website and recipes and everything, thank you :)
Hi Nika, Since you had a successful batch and didn’t change anything, I’m not sure what would have caused the second batch to be spongy and dry. Do you use an oven thermometer? Perhaps the oven ran hot? Or you overheat the batter a bit? Without any substitutions or alterations to the recipe, I can’t think of anything else.
thank you for your reply. I have tried them one more time and I added some hot water to the batter since it was too thick and they came out really nice. maybe there was a problem with the flour or cocoa powder, maybe it was a different brand than the first time.
thank you and good luck :)
Hi, could you tell me how you managed to get the frosting so smooth and shiny? I followed the recipe almost exactly (except I used only half of the suggested powdered sugar). The frosting was yummy but the texture was just too frothy (not sure what is the right term to describe it but there were bubbles) to be piped nicely.
Also, I noticed I had cracks on the cakes, I was baking it with a fan oven at 140C, which I thought was quite a low temperature. The recipe was delicious, I just wished the cupcakes I made looked better. Thanks in advance for any tips or advice.
I would recommend using the full amount of powdered sugar, otherwise the texture of the frosting will not come out right.
Thanks. Will keep that in mind next time :)
hey i tried making these today but i made a mistake which is that i added to much of batter in each cupcake holder and it rise to the max and overflowed but the taste was so good
I am glad that i tried making these :]
Peanut butter cupcakes, yum! I need to make them!
Soooo, I am aware all these post are from so long ago…but I just made these- the batter for the cupcake is so good. I can’t wait to eat them. :) they will be used as the “burger” to the hamburger cupcakes we are making for my daughter to take to school tomorrow for her birthday…so good.
These Dark Chocolate cupcakes look amazing. Thanks for sharing.
In a pinch I had to use whole milk instead of cream for the frosting, and since all I ever use is Smucker’s natural peanut butter, it didn’t come out as pictured. I figure most people use the sugary super-creamy stuff, so mine would be different in that respect. My advice is to make a different flavor icing if that brand of PB all you have.
These look and sound amazing, before I make them can anyone tell me if the cakes need to be kept in the refrigerator overnight (as I am using them for tomorrow) due to the fresh cream in the frosting?
Hi Paul, No, you can keep them at room temperature.
Do you think I could make mini cupcakes out of this recipe for a party? And could I use Hershey’s cocoa powder instead of dutch?
Hi Hannah, I think mini cupcakes would come out just fine. I really recommend using Dutch (it’s worth stocking in your kitchen if you do a lot of baking with chocolate), but if you absolutely must, Hershey’s is okay in a pinch.
I used hershey’s for my cupcakes and they tasted fine so i guess you could.
Ok, I made these today for my sons last week in speech class tonight. I, of course, had to taste one, because that’s what all good chefs do. OMG, the cupcake is so moist and the peanut butter icing is smooth and creamy! Love it!!! Keeping this recipe forever. <3
Hi,I am a big fan of your blog and these are my favourite cupcakes by far :) I was just wondering if anyone has tried different variations of the chocolate cupcake recipe? i am thinking of making chocolate orange cupcakes and am wondering how I could adapt this recipie as I love the cupcake itself!
Hi there! I loved these when I made them, but have a neighbor’s birthday coming up and would love to make this as a cake. Have you? Any suggestions for tweaking the recipe? Thank you so much!!! Have a wonderful day….Ms. Newlywed :-)
Hi Carolyn, Thank you! :) I haven’t not used this recipe to make a cake, so unfortunately I can’t offer you any insight, but if you do try it, I’d love to hear how it turned out! You would need to do double the recipe for a two-layer or 9×13-inch cake, and likely increase the baking time.
Thank you for the response….I need an AMAZING chocolate cake with chocolate frosting….any suggestions?????
Hi Carolyn, I love this Hershey’s chocolate cake + frosting: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/2007/08/03/perfectly-chocolate-everything/. If you want a real show-stopper, you could also make this 6-layer cake and use all chocolate frosting if you wanted: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/2013/03/25/six-layer-chocolate-cake-with-toasted-marshmallow-filling-malted-chocolate-frosting/
Thank you! :-)
This looks amazing! I really want to make it but i have a few questions. First, can i sub the dutch-proccessed cocoa for unsweetened coca? And for the frosting, can i whip it up by hand instead of using a mixing machine?
Hi Wendy, You can make that substitute, I believe, without an issue. I have never made frosting by hand, but you could use a whisk – you’ll need a lot of elbow grease!
I wish I could do this frosting recipe but I’m allergic to peanut butter! But when I’m un allergic to peanut butter then the first thing I will try will be this cupcake recipe with the frosting for sure!
Okay so these cupcakes are the BOMB! I’m a 16 year old baker and I made them once for my good friend. The frosting is so dam good perfectly combined with the dark chocolate. Ill be making them again for my little brothers birthday tomorrow he loves peanut butter and I’m sure he will love this combination even more! Thanks for the great recipe : ) they are to die for!
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These cupcakes are amazing! I tried them and everyone loved them! thank you so much!! I didn’t do the PB frosting, instead I used the Vanilla frosting from your Vanilla Cupcakes, and omg they were amazing. tasted like an oreo cupcake.
This frosting did not work out for me. I used natural peanut butter. Could that be why? I have a bowl full of greasy glop. I’m very disappointed.
It’s definitely because of using natural peanut butter; it contains much more oil than processed peanut butter.
Hi Michelle, I assumed that was the problem. I managed to salvage the frosting by adding 8 oz. of cream cheese and probably another 3 cups!! of sugar. It came out delicious, albeit soft. I would do this, using natural pb again, with more butter, and the cream cheese. Thanks for replying.
I made these cupcakes yesterday, and they were truly amazing. The cake has a deep yet not too sweet chocolate flavor, and the frosting was light, which was perfect with the peanut butter flavor since peanut butter can often be too rich and overwhelming. My friends and family loved them — even the ones who aren’t huge fans of peanut butter. I will be making these again, and I will also use this chocolate cupcake recipe with other types of frostings. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
These cupcakes are the best ever! If you love dark chocolate that is moist beyond belief than these are for you. The peanut butter frosting is very rich. The guys in our family all love peanut butter and they are hooked! It was very easy to pipe on the cupcakes.
I’ve made these at least once as cupcakes since you posted the recipe (YUM!) but made it tonight as an 8″ 2-layer cake instead. I kept the frosting fairly thin but then refrigerated and topped after a while with a hardening bitter chocolate glaze (covering the top and dripping down the sides). It looked beautiful and tasted even better! Thank you; this is a wonderful blog!!
I have made these a gazillion times now and I just love love love them! you just can’t go wrong with this recipe. perfection. and I always top mine with a reese’s . :)