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Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

These Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes have a rich dark chocolate cake and a fluffy peanut butter frosting, all in a perfectly portioned bite!
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Total Time55 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 12 cupcakes
Author: Cynthia

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 😋