Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

These are my new favorite cupcakes. I love love LOVE peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and I obviously love cupcakes so I just knew this marriage would be a great success. It may seem like I've been baking a lot this week and well, you're right, I have been... but there is a rhyme and reason behind all of it I promise! I mentioned a few weeks ago that I started taking a cake decorating class and since I missed last week to go to Miami (totally worth it) I had to bring cupcakes AND a cake to class this week.  With this class, not only am I getting to learn some new decorating techniques, but it's also a great opportunity to try out new ideas and recipes.. i.e. PB&J Cupcakes. And let me tell you, these things are AH-MAZING.  I actually made two different cupcakes from this recipe and the cake is a different recipe as well, but I'm kind of anti posting before having others actually try the goods so they'll be up by the end of the weekend.

Lets get started on this amazing recipe. First off for the cake part.. I'm always on the lookout for a great white/yellow cake and I think this one is definitely a keeper. After spending a good amount of time on Epicurious I came across a recipe with rave reviews and decided I had to try it. I did make a few modifications to the recipe because it was originally for a Lemon Layer Cake, so I just omitted the lemon component and added in peanut butter. So without further ado...

Peanut Butter Cake

Adapted from Epicurious 

Yields 24 cupcakes

Oven: 350 Bake time: 30minutes

1 cup oil

2 1/2 cups AP flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 TBS baking powder

3/4 cup milk

4 TBS sour cream (If you don't want to buy sour cream, you can just use 1 cup of milk)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup peanut butter *if you just wanted a regular cake don't add the PB!

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl mix milk, sour cream and vanilla extract.

Beat oil, sugar, peanut butter and eggs one at a time. Reduce speed and alternate adding flour mixture and wet mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Pour batter into prepared cupcake pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and transfer to cooling rack.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, the 'coning method' is used to add in the jelly component. Use a sharp knife to cut out a small hole in the top of the cupcake.

Add a spoonful of grape or strawberry jelly to each hole. I went with grape because that's what was in my fridge. Once the holes are filled, trim a bit of the removed piece of cake so it will fit back on top without completely popping out.

After all the cupcakes are coned and filled with jelly, it's time for the Peanut Butter Buttercream. I actually made this icing a little different than the one I made for the Banana Cupcakes, and to be honest I think it's a little better...so long story short I'll add the recipe here as well.

Peanut Butter Buttercream
1 stick of butter
1 cup of peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
about 2 or 3 cups of powdered sugar
2 TBS water


Beat butter, peanut butter and vanilla till smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and add water till you get a smooth creamy consistency. 

I promise, you will not be disappointed in this cupcake!! Happy Baking!

Banana Cupcakes 3 Ways

I definitely didn't want to make my trip to visit Cailin in Miami empty handed... I mean, not only is she one of my best friends, but she was the one that I made my very first cake for! I went back and forth about what I wanted to bake and then it came to me one afternoon as I realized I still had 3 lovely bananas waiting in the freezer for me, just begging me to be a part of something yummy. I also thought it would be a great opportunity to try out a few new icings I've been wanting to make...soo the end result?? Banana Cupcakes 3 Ways.

The recipe I used actually comes from one of the most amazing cupcake books: Hello, Cupcake! by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. Honestly, if you ever want to make a fun cupcake or just look at some fun things you can do with them, this is the book to have.. they do some amazing things with cupcakes and offer step by step directions to make the creations using simple ingredients in very creative ways. My mom got me the book this year for Christmas and I was excited to actually get to use a part of it finally. Along with all their fun creations, they offer the recipes for their Favorite Homemade Cupcakes and some icings as well. For these cupcakes, I made my own icings.

Banana Cupcakes

courtesy of Hello Cupcakes! by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson

Makes 18 standard cupcakes

Oven: 350 Time: 15-20 min

1 2/3 cups AP flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3 medium ripe bananas

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 stick butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl.

In another bowl, mash bananas and buttermilk.

In yet ANOTHER bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time.

(Make sure the bowl you use for this mix is the largest- If you're using a Kitchen Aid mixer, beat the butter, sugar and eggs in there and add the other bowls ingredients to it)

Once the butter sugar and eggs are beat, add the flour mixture alternatively with the banana mixture in batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir in vanilla.

Spoon batter into paper lined muffin tin and pop into the oven!

While the cupcakes were baking I got to making my 3 different icings. I went with a Honey-Cinnamon Buttercream, Chocolate Ganache and Peanut Butter Buttercream. Since I was using three different icings I made pretty small batches... icing is something that is hard to mess up and it's really all about getting the right consistency which can always be adjusted by adding more sugar or adding more butter or liquid depending on what needs to be done. If you ever have any questions PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email me, I'll be happy to try and help :)! The following recipes will be for about 1/4 of a full recipe...that means they can easily be doubled if you were using only one of the icings. A conversion and general rules for icing is up on the Tips & Tricks!!

Honey-Cinnamon Buttercream

4 TBS butter

2 TBS crisco

1 TBS cinnamon

1 TBS Honey

1 1/3 cup powdered sugar*

1/2 TBS water (just to get the right consistency)

Cream butter, crisco, cinnamon and honey. Mix in powdered sugar.

Feel free to add more cinnamon or honey depending on your tastes.

*I'm guesstimating on the sugar because I was using a 1/3 cup.. I just added 1/3 cup of powdered sugar until I got the right consistency.

Chocolate Ganache

This recipe makes about 1 cup of ganache.

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 TBS butter

1/2 bag chocolate chips

Place chocolate and butter in a bowl. In a small saucepan, heat cream to just a boil. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate and butter and stir until smooth. Let sit and cool for a few minutes before use.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

4 TBS butter

2 TBS crisco

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 1/3 cups powdered sugar*

1/2 TBS water (give or take)

Beat butter, crisco and peanut butter. Mix in powdered sugar. Add water if necessary.

*Again, I added the sugar by 1/3 cup increments... use your best judgement when making your icing!

Well, now that the cupcakes are iced and the kitchen is clean, I've got to finish packing and get ready for some fun in the sun... I'll let you know what the consensus is regarding the favorite combo :) MIAMI HERE I COME!!