These Reese’s Peanut Butter Cupcakes are always a crowd favorite! Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and a Reese’s chocolate baked in the center.
It’s been really difficult writing this post, editing the pictures and getting it ready to share with you guys. It’s been a constant reminder that ALL I WANT is another one! Or two. Or three.
I’ve been dreaming of them ever since I made them. Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting and a mini Reese’s chocolate baked in the center. BEST CUPCAKES EVER! You can never, ever go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter.
Use a standard muffin pan and place a muffin liner in each muffin cup. Fill with chocolate cupcake batter until each liner is half full. Place a Reese’s peanut butter cup in the center of each cup filled with batter. Now your cupcakes are ready to bake! Be sure to allow them to cool completely before frosting.
When your guests are ready to eat one they’ll find a happy suprise in the center: a Reese’s chocolate!
The peanut butter frosting is the really winner with these cupcakes and it couldn’t be easier to make.
How to make peanut butter frosting:
My biggest tip for making peanut butter frosting is to use a commercial brand of peanut butter, NOT natural or homemade peanut butter! I recommend Skippy of Jif. If you use a different kind of peanut butter you may experience separating, oily or texture issues.
Start by using an electric mixer to mix together the butter and peanut butter until completely smooth.
Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk and mix again until smooth. The butter/powdered sugar/milk ratio here always yields a perfect thick and smooth frosting for me. If you’d like it a little thicker add a bit more powdered sugar, or if you’d like it thinner, add an extra splash of milk.
Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost them with the peanut butter frosting. I used a Wilton 1M decorating tip and an Ateco decorating bag to frost these cupcakes, but you could even use a plastic ziplock bag with a small hole snipped from the corner to pipe the frosting on.
*Disclaimer….these cupcakes are made using a cake mix (gasp!). Here’s the honest truth. As much as I totally believe in cooking everything from scratch (here’s my favorite homemade chocolate cupcakes recipe) I believe there is a time and a place for boxed cake mixes. I “doctor” cake mixes all the time–I change the add-in’s so that the end result tastes like they’re from scratch!
Sometimes you only have 5 minutes to throw together a treat, and the batter for these cupcakes only takes that long! And the best part is no one will ever guess (or care) that you used a cake mix!
Try my other popular cupcake recipes:
- German Chocolate Cupcakes
- Chocolate Cupcakes with Oreo Cream Frosting
- Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Caramel Filled Chocolate Cupcakes
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Recipe
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cupcakes*
- 1 box chocolate cake mix
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup oil (vegetable or canola oil)
- 2 heaping Tablespoons plain Greek yogurts
- 30 mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups , divided
For the Peanut Butter Frosting:
- 1/2 cup butter , room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 regular muffin tins with cupcake liners.
- Mix together the cake mix, milk, eggs, oil and Greek yogurt until smooth. Spoon batter into cupcake pans, filling the liners ½ full.
- Place a Reese's PB cup into the center of the batter in each cup (it's okay if the the tops of the Reese's are showing, like photo above).
- Bake cupcakes for 16-20 minutes or until done. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
For the Peanut Butter Frosting
- Beat together butter, and peanut butter and mix until smooth.
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat again until combined.
- Add milk and mix until light and fluffy. (Add more milk or powdered sugar if needed to make the frosting thicker or thinner).
- Frost cupcakes (I used a wilton 1M tip in the photos above).
- Chop up the remaining pieces of Reese's and gently press into frosting.
- Store leftover cupcakes, covered, in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Notes
Nutrition
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The material in this blog post references the trademarked brand “Reese’s.” The use of this trademark is for informational and editorial purposes only and does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Hershey Company or any of its affiliates.
*I originally shared this recipe April 2015. Updated June 2018.
Delicious recipe! I just did two layers , so i did half of the mix in each 9″ springform pan (i prefer baking cake with them). And i did a decent amount of pb in the middle. Then piped some decorative peanut butter frosting on top to make up for less peanut butter layers! Did a pattern of pb frosting and chocolate frosting. Turned out great. Had no issues with the pb frosting not sticking together or the mix bubbling over. Though one of my two cakes did slightly dip in the middle for some reason. But i think thats something i did wrong lol. Thank you!
Hello! I was wondering if a chocolate devil’s cake box mix would work for this recipe?
Yes, it would.
Wayyyy too much peanut butter in frosting recipe. It never came together to be able to frost anything. Awful
Way too much peanut butter but I figured out you can use milk to soften it
I cooked the recipe for the cake 2x. One time wirh coffee and the other with none. Both times the cake bubbled over and looked like a souffle. I suspect it’s the usage of both soda powder and baking soda combined. All I know it was a lot of work and mess for nothing but two things of icing .
Hi Mollie, I’m so sorry that happened, and it more than likely has to do with your altitude. What altitude are you baking at?