Fluffy Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Can we all agree that peanut butter and chocolate are the power couple of flavor combinations? It's such a classic combo and just so dang good! These chocolate cupcakes have an incredibly light texture. They're super rich, moist, and are topped with the most creamy, silky peanut butter frosting ever. I'm drooling just thinking about them!

INGREDIENTS TO MAKE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

These cupcakes are going to be some of the softest and fluffiest cupcake you'll ever eat! To make them for yourself and see, here's what you'll need:

• All-purpose flour

• Cocoa powder

• Baking powder

• Salt

• Granulated sugar

• Vegetable oil

• Milk

• Coffee

• Eggs

• Vanilla extract

MAKING THE CUPCAKES

This cupcake recipe is a super simple, one-bowl recipe that can be whipped up in no time at all! Start by combining all of your dry ingredients into a large bowl. This is going to be the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and granulated sugar. Next, add in the vegetable oil, eggs, milk, coffee, and vanilla extract. Whisk until the cupcake batter is smooth.

This recipe makes 14-15 cupcakes, so you'll need two muffin pans, lining 14-14 with paper cupcake liners. Pour the batter evenly into each liner. Each one should be filled about ⅔ of the way full. Do not fill cupcake liners to the top. Once all the liners are filled, pop the cupcakes into a preheated 350°F for 19-22 minutes. Once baked, let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

INGREDIENTS FOR PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

And what's a cupcake without frosting? This peanut butter frosting is so silky smooth; I could seriously just eat it with a spoon. Here's what you'll need to make it:

• Creamy peanut butter

• Unsalted butter

• Powdered sugar

• Heavy cream

• Vanilla extract

• Salt

MAKING THE FROSTING

This frosting is incredibly easy to make. It takes just a few minutes for everything to come together as deliciously creamy frosting!

Step 1: Cream together the softened butter and peanut butter until smooth.

Step 2: Add in the heavy cream, vanilla extract, pinch of salt, and powdered sugar to the bowl and mix on a low speed to combine.

Step 3: Once everything is combined, mix the frosting on a medium speed for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy. That's it!

Now you can either pipe or spread your frosting onto the cooled cupcakes!

TIPS FOR THE BEST CUPCAKES

Even though this recipe is so easy to make, here are just a few simple tips you can do to make sure you get the best cupcakes possible!

Sift the cocoa powder. Sometimes cocoa powder can be clumpy, and it can be hard to break up the clumps once it's incorporated into a batter. The best thing you can do to avoid this is once you measure out your cocoa powder, use a fine metal sifter to sift it into the bowl with the dry ingredients.

Fill cupcake liners evenly, and don't overfill. This recipe should result in the perfect amount of cupcake batter to fill each cupcake liner between ⅔ and ¾ of the way full. You want to be sure to fill them each evenly and not overfill them. This will ensure that once they bake, all of the cupcakes will be the same size.

Cool the cupcakes completely. This is a fairly simple and obvious tip, but you always want to make sure that your cupcakes are completely cool before frosting them so the frosting doesn't melt!

If you give this recipe a try and love it, be sure to leave a comment and star rating! Be sure to tag @thehungrykitchenblog on Instagram so I can see all of your delicious bakes! Happy baking! ♥