Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

Time for the third bake for the month of February. The perfect pair this week was Peanut Butter & Jelly. I was thinking about baking a PB&J cheesecake but at the last minute I scrapped that idea. I decided to bake cupcakes because I normally don't bake them. This was also the perfect opportunity for me to try making some swiss meringue buttercream. I'm really glad that I did. My mom requested some chocolate coconut cupcakes so I made some of those too. I made a peanut butter swiss meringue buttercream and it is amazing. So light and peanut buttery. I think this may be my new favorite way to make buttercream because the american style is so much more heavier. I filled the peanut butter cupcakes with some classic grape jelly. I also drizzled more jelly on top and I made some roasted peanut dust and topped each cupcake with that. They came out so well.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcake

Here's what you will need

Chocolate Cupcake

• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup softened butter ( 1 stick)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup hot water

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• 3 egg whites
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cup softened butter ( 3 sticks)  each stick cut into 8 pieces

for coconut swiss meringue buttercream

• 2 tablespoons of coconut extract

for peanut butter swiss meringue buttercream

• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

First sift your flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda together and then set aside.

In a bowl cream together softened butter and sugar until nice and fluffy

add in your eggs one at a time

Add in half of your flour mixture

pour in your milk and blend

add in the second half of your flour mixture

take your hot water and pour that into your cupcake batter and mix till combined

This is hot water, I just added it to the same measuring cup that had the milk in it

Preheat oven to 350F

Scope your batter into cupcake liners being careful not to over fill (cupcakes will rise) 3/4 full is always a good fill level.

Bake in 350F oven for 15-20 minutes ( I baked mine at 17 minutes) everyone's oven is different so use a toothpick to check doneness.

After removing from oven let them sit in the pan for about 10 minutes then move them to a rack to cool.

These smelled so good after coming out of the oven

I took a measuring spoon and carefully removed some of the inside of the cupcake to stuff them.

best part about removing the center is that you get to eat cupcake scraps

I just filled these with some grape jelly I had in the fridge (you can use whatever you have)

Yummy jelly

For the coconut filled I just mixed about a 1/2 cup shredded coconut with 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

yummy coconut filling

These are ok to leave out while you work on your frostings.

In your stand mixer bowl (or you could use a glass or metal bowl) place your egg whites and sugar and give it a quick whisk

 You are going to place this bowl over a pot of simmering water and cook until all the sugar is dissolved or a thermometer reads 160F (make sure the water in the small pot does not touch the bottom of the bowl

Once all the sugar is dissolved and you reach 160F remove the bowl and attach it to your stand mixer and begin whisking the egg whites on high until stiff peaks form and your bowl feels cool to the touch.

look at that glossy meringue

with your mixer still on high add one piece of butter in at a time.

thats a whole lot of butter

Keep whisking on high, if your buttercream looks like it will curdle keep mixing it will become silky and smooth.

nice and silky

I then separated some out to flavor the peanut butter  swiss meringue butter cream. I just added peanut butter and tasted it.

add in some peanut butter and adjust to your taste

For the coconut cupcakes I added the coconut extract and whipped it in the mixer and placed in a pipping bag. I like a lot of frosting.

I really love a lot of frosting

I topped the peanut butter and jelly cupcakes with the peanut butter swiss meringue buttercream. I microwaved a tiny bit of jelly for about 15 seconds and drizzled that over the cupcakes. I then placed some honey roasted peanuts in my coffee/spice grinder and blitzed them till I had a crumb consistency and I sprinkled that on top.

I did make a mess with the jelly, but look at these cupcakes

For the coconut I just threw a ton of shredded coconut on top and placed two almond slivers on top.

After adding the coconut 

So yummy

The PB & Jelly are my favorite

Ya'll better bake these

The cupcakes were deliciously moist and not overly sweet. Also the buttercream freezes well ( I had enough to frost another dozen cupcakes). Definitely try baking these. Hmmm I'm still trying to decide on the last bake. I'm leaning towards something with red velvet.

Almond Joy Cupcakes For The Win!

Well it's been a while and I did attempt to post the lime cheesecake recipe earlier in the week but it failed. I will be posting it just not today. I was thinking of things to bake and I thought about cupcakes. That's how this post was born. I mean who doesn't like cupcakes, they are the perfect size and they look cute. When you get the perfect bite ratio of frosting to cake you are in heaven. Oh and lets not forget about how portable cupcakes are. Ok, so I knew cupcakes were on the menu but I had to decide on the flavor. Chocolate is always a great choice because most people enjoy a chocolate cupcake. As for the frosting choice, I prefer a non chocolate buttercream because I feel like chocolate on chocolate is too much. I went with a coconut buttercream, so then I felt like hey this reminds me of an almond joy. Chocolate + coconut + almonds, thats what I went with.

chocolate cupcake with coconut filling and a coconut buttercream frosting

I think they turned out great. Oh and this recipe is totally adaptable, it's going to be your go to chocolate cupcake base. You can then customize this to however you'd like in the future. It's always great to have a good chocolate cupcake recipe in your  baking arsenal.

Chocolate Cupcake recipe

• 1 1/3 cup of All Purpose Flour
• 1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1/4 teaspoon of Salt
• 3/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1 stick of Unsalted Butter (softened)
• 1 1/2 cup of Granulated Sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of Milk
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

Coconut Filling

• 1/2 cup of Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 to 1 1/2 cup of Shredded Coconut

Coconut Buttercream

• 2 sticks of Softened Unsalted Butter 
• 1-2 cups of Powdered Sugar (depend on your taste)
• 2-3 tablespoons of Coconut Extract
• 1/4 cup of Sweetened Condensed Milk

Additional Items Needed

• cupcake liners
• cupcake or muffin tin
• hand mixer
• mixing bowls
• piping bags
• dark chocolate for garnish
• almonds for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

 Add the eggs all in, beat well, then stir in the vanilla.

 Add the 1/3 of the flour mixture  then mix

Then alternate with the milk (I didn't have regular milk so I used chocolate milk) about half a cup; beat well.

Chocolate Milk and it's Lactose Free.....yay

Repeat process until you have no more milk and flour mixture. You should be left with a smooth silky batter.

Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 F for 18-20  minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Take them out of the oven and let cool on a wire rack

cupcakes cooling off 

Now on to the coconut filling. It's simple just mix the coconut and condensed milk together

For the coconut buttercream start with whipping your butter for 5-7 minutes on high speed. The butter will turn a pale yellow color and increase in size.

Next add in your powdered sugar and turn your mixer on low ( you don't want powdered sugar everywhere) I also add in the coconut extract and taste as I go and adjust if I need more sugar or extract, when I find the taste and texture smooth I add in the condensed milk and whip until incorporated.

This taste great just off of the spoon

Your buttercream should be smooth and silky and stiff enough to pipe, place the buttercream in a piping bag

Now to assemble these I began by using a little teaspoon measuring spoon and carving out a little hole in each cupcake. I then filled with the coconut+condensed milk mixture (make sure your cupcakes are completely cooled down)

Coconut + condensed milk filling

Then I piped a swirl of coconut buttercream to cover the top of the coconut mixture

look how silky that coconut buttercream is

I then melted a little dark chocolate and placed it in a piping bag and piped that on top of the cupcakes with some almond slivers, now they are finished.

Finished product with dark chocolate drizzle and almond slivers

Chocolate + Coconut are so good together

Almond Joy Cupcakes

cut in half so you can see that yummy coconut filling

These cupcakes are so moist and delicious, the added coconut filling makes these cupcakes taste amazing. I made one dozen with this recipe along with enough extra batter to make a small mini cake. So if you don't make the mini cake you can probably get 16-18 cupcakes out of this recipe. Also feel free to double the frosting to pile high on each cupcake.