Moist Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Wonderfully richand fluffy, these chocolate cupcakes are topped with a creamy peanut butter frosting and crowned with a cute Hershey Kiss acorn!

Although we’re smack dab in the middle of summer right now, I can’t help but look forward to fall. Mainly because it’s linked to some of the best flavors–cinnamon, salted caramel, brown sugar, and most importantly,PUMPKIN!!Heck,I’ve been known toeat an entire Costco pumpkin pie by myself. No joke.

However,instead of getting too ahead of myselfand diving straight into fall-flavored recipes, I’ve decided to ease into it with these very cute fall-like cupcakes.

I mean, how much cuter can you get with these little acorns?

I was asked to make cupcakes for a forest/wilderness-themed baby shower, and I figured these cute little Hershey acorns would be the perfect cupcake topper. Not to mention,they’re super dupereasy to make!

All ya need are some Hershey kisses, Nutter Butter bites, mini chocolate chips, and a little melted chocolate for the “glue”.

You could even use the mini golden Oreos, if you don’t care for Nutter Butters.But who doesn’t like Nutter Butters??

BARBARIANS, that’s who.

Moving right alongto the actual cupcakes themselves…O my G, they were perfect. The chocolate cupcakeswere SOOO moist, super light, airy–almost like little chocolate pillows. That is, if pillows were made out of chocolate…I WISH.

These cupcakes are bursting with chocolatey richness, thanks to my favorite not-so-secret ingredient to use in chocolate cakes–espresso powder! I’m definitely not much of a coffee drinker, but instant espresso powder is one of the staple items I keep in my pantry for the soul purpose ofenhancing the chocolate flavor in cakes. It works like a charm, and non-coffee drinkerswill NEVER know. Strongly brewed coffee can also be used if you’re in a pinch. However, I prefer using instant espresso powder since I’ve always found it difficult to figure outhow strong “strongly brewed coffee” is.

While butter might be the best choice as far as flavor goes, I have to say that I prefer canola oil forthat light and airy, consistently moist crumb. Butter tends to givecakes a denser texture, which can be great for layer cakes, but for cupcakes, light and fluffy is best in my opinion.

Andif I hadn’t already convinced you to make these cupcakes, theyare a BREEZE to makedue to the fact that it’s all made in one bowl. No stand mixer needed. No beaters. No separate bowls. Just one large mixing bowl and a whisk! Thatmeans easy cleanup for you lucky little ladies and gents out there.

And then we have the peanut butter frosting, AKA the most addictive deliciousness I’ve ever had in my life. I’m already known for being a bit of a frosting fanatic, so when you combine my love of frosting with my love of peanut butter, I die.

Literally, I die.

And all this frosting is is butter, peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream. So basically, all the best things on Earth. Besides John Stamos 😉

Althoughyou will need to use a stand mixer (or hand mixer) to make the frosting, it comes together in a snap! Just beat the butter and peanut butter together until smooth, add in the rest of theingredients, thenwhip untilsmooth, fluffy, and PERFECT.

Needless to say, these cupcakes were snatched up in seconds at the baby shower, and I already have cupcake orders lined up in the coming months. So I guess I’d saythese cupcakes were a success…

Ingredients

For the “Acorns":

2 Tablespoons chocolate melted
18 Nutter Butter Bites
18 Hershey kisses unwrapped (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
18 mini chocolate chips

For the Cupcakes:

¾ cup hot water
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup Greek yogurt I used vanilla
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Frosting:

½ cup butter softened
½ cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-4 Tablespoons milk or cream
2 1/2-3 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

To make the “Acorns":

Pour melted chocolate in a small ziplock bag, then snip off the corner making a small hole. Pipe a little dollop of chocolate onto a Nutter Butter bite, then press a Hershey kiss on top to adhere. Repeat with the remaining Nutter Butters and Hershey kisses. Chill acorns in the freezer for about 2 minutes until chocolate has set.
Once set, pipe a tiny dollop of melted chocolate onto the Nutter Butter side of the acorn then immediately attach a mini chocolate chip; refrigerate until set.

To make the Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees, and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.Add the espresso powder to the hot water, and stir until fully dissolved; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and both sugars until well combined.Add the oil and yogurt and continue stirring with a whisk. Batter will be thick so you'll have to add some of the espresso liquid to stir more easily. Add the rest of the espresso liquid and stir until combined. Stir in the egg, followed by the vanilla.
Pour batter into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 of the way. Bake in the oven for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with few crumbs attached.Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the Frosting:

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and peanut butter together until smooth. Add vanilla extract, milk/cream, and 1 cup of the powdered sugar and continue mixing. Gradually add more powdered sugar, stirring between each addition, until you've reached the desired consistency. If frosting becomes too thick, add more milk/cream.
Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes as desired, then top with a Nutter Butter "acorn". Serve and enjoy!

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