This month’s theme for Cupcake Hero, hosted by Clara at Iheartcuppycakes, is peanut butter. Most of us would agree that nothing goes better with peanut butter than chocolate, right? A little over one hundred years ago, a man by the name of Perley Garrish created one of the most amazing contributions in history (or at least those of us addicted to candy bars would argue). His claim to fame is creating the first candy bar that combined peanuts and chocolate, which he named the Squirrel Nut Zipper. Though, sadly, discontinued in the 1980′s, I have a feeling his amazing flavor combination is here to stay!

The inspiration for these cupcakes literally came from my son’s Halloween stash. Shhhh…he still hasn’t noticed that anything is missing! Having already eaten all of his fun size Snicker’s (another thing we’re keeping secret from him), I was left with Butterfinger’s for this cupcake challenge. I started by making a Devil’s Food chocolate cake and folding bits of chopped Butterfingers into the batter. The cake itself is incredibly moist. The two-toned peanut butter chocolate frosting, also turned out fabulous. So many people ask how to make the icing swirl. It looks fancy, but it’s really simple to do. It’s made using the Wilton 1M tip. Check out Wilton’s tutorial on this for more details. The two-toned frosting is also pretty simple, though can get a little messy if you fill the piping bags too full. Step by step directions on this technique can be found on my Laker’s cupcake post from last year.

Want more peanut butter lovin’ cupcake inspiration? Check out everyone’s cupcakes on the Cupcake Hero’s Flickr group!

Devil’s Food Cake* (Recipe by, David Lebovitz)

9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ cups cake flour (not self-rising)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup strong coffee (or water)
½ cup whole or low-fat milk

Adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in cupcake pans. Sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. (If using a standing electric mixer, stop the mixer as necessary to scrape down the sides to be sure everything is getting mixed in.)Mix together the coffee and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, then add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter. Cook for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

*Need a shortcut? Use a devil’s food boxed cake mix (I won’t tell!).

Peanut Butter Frosting (www.cdkitchen.com)
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

 Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth and creamy.

Creamy Chocolate Frosting

2 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tablespoons butter

5 tablespoons evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa, and set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar.