Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Brooke had a very specific request for her birthday dessert - chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter cream cheese frosting. I've never heard of peanut butter cream cheese frosting but figured I'd wing it - how bad could it be? Actually, it's very very good. Like delicious. Just about the perfect cupcake. I don't know if she thought the idea up herself or saw it somewhere, but turned out to be a great call.

I made 24 chocolate doctored cupcakes (add an additional egg, substitute melted butter for the oil and milk instead of water, add a teaspoon of vanilla, and a scoop of sour cream); for 12 of them I spooned 2 tablespoons of batter into cupcake liners, put a mini reese's peanut butter cup in the center, topped with another tablespoon of batter. For the other 12 I left out the reese's and went with straight chocolate cake.

For the frosting - the 12 plain chocolate cupcakes were frosted with a big scoop of vanilla buttercream frosting (side note: did you see yesterday's tip for clear vanilla? It's the way to go for white frosting); the 12 that have the reese's baked in got frosted with this peanut butter cream cheese frosting, garnished with another reese's mini cup and some chocolate sprinkles. Yum.


Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:

6 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
2-3 tablespoons whip cream (or milk)
pinch of salt

Beat the cream cheese and peanut butter together until smooth. Add the vanilla and salt. Alternate adding powdered sugar and whip cream (or milk) until you get the correct consistency for spreading.

Note: this frosting was firm when I frosted the cupcakes but after being out for a while in a warm room it got soft and wanted to slide off the cupcakes! Next time I'll keep them chilled until it's time to serve them - not the best choice for sitting out for hours.