There’s really no need for an introduction to this post. Chocolate, peanut butter, Reese Cups, cupcakes…yum. That pretty much sums it up!
Here’s what you’re going to need:
Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes
2 Cups Sugar
1-3/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
3/4 Cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
1 1/2 TSP Baking Powder
1 1/2 TSP Baking Soda
1 TSP Salt
2 Eggs
1 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 TSP Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Boiling Water
Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting
1 Cup Unsalted Butter
1 8oz Package Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 TSP Vanilla Extract
1 1/4 Cup JIF Smooth Peanut Butter
4 Cups Powdered Sugar
2-3 TBS milk
Crushed Up OR Small Reese Cups To Top
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, or bowl of an electric mixer, mix together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until fully combined.
Step 2: Add in eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Pour in boiling water and beat for 2 minutes.
Step 3: Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full (I used 4TBS) and bake at 350 for 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.
Isn’t that crazy simple?!?! No swaping bowls slowly adding things ect. I love recipes like this! And suprisingly I didn’t change a thing. Just a little tip…the batter is REALLY thin! The first time I made it I thought it was a baking fail for sure because it was so thing. But to my suprise they baked up perfectly! Since it was so thin I used 4 TBS (my usual is 3) of batter in each liner and they baked up perfect.
Now for the frosting…
Step 4: In a large mixing bowl, or bowl of an electric mixer, beat together together unsalted butter and cream cheese. Add in vanilla extract. Once blended, add in peanut butter until fully combined.
Step 5: Slowly add in powdered sugar.
Step 6: Add in milk 1 TBS at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
Step 7: Frost cupcakes, and top with Reese Cup crumbles!
These cupcake hold a spot in my top three favorite cupcakes, along with these Triple White Chocolate Cupcakes, and these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes.
There’s no wrong way, to eat a reeses.
(But I’m pretty sure this is my favorite)
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Sugar
- 1-3/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 3/4 Cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
- 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Cup Milk
- 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
- 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 1 Cup Boiling Water
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 8oz Package Philadelphia Cream Cheese
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/4 Cup JIF Smooth Peanut Butter
- 4 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 2-3 Tbsp. milk
- Reese Cup Pieces To Top
- Topping
- Reese Cups To Top
- 6 Oz. Melting chocolate
- 6 Oz. Butter
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, or bowl of an electric mixer, mix together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until fully combined.
- Add in eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Pour in boiling water and beat for 2 minutes.
- Pour batter into two floured 8in cake pans.
- Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. (until toothpick comes out clean)
- In a large mixing bowl, or bowl of an electric mixer, beat together together unsalted butter and cream cheese. Add in vanilla extract. Once blended, add in peanut butter until fully combined.
- Slowly add in powdered sugar.
- Add in milk 1 TBS at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
- Secure bottom cake to a cake board or cake stand. I like to pipe a rim of icing around the cake first, using a large round piping tip. This helps to keep the icing from seeping out.
- Fill the inside with peanut butter icing. Toss in some Reese Cup pieces.
- Place top cake on top and press down just a little bit. Using a icing spatula smooth out the seam. Cover in peanut butter icing and place in fridge. Keeping the cake in the fridge allows the icing to harden a bit so it won’t melt under the warm chocolate.
- While cake is chilling melt together your melting chocolate and butter. Make sure to stir often.
- Remove cake from fridge, pour melted chocolate over. Add reese cup pieces, and quickly place back in the fridge to chill.
OH MY GOODNESS YES! These look absolutely AMAZING! Now I’m gonna have to.make these and your chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes this next week! Boy somebody better have a party so I have an excuse … oh who am I kidding .. Aahaha .. I don’t need an excuse …. these look too yummy! Thanks for all these amazing recipes Toni!! :)
O.my.gosh! I made these yesterday for my sons graduation party and they vanished quickly. The icing recipe makes about 4 times what is needed and all I can say about thay is thank you thank you…..THANK YOU!!!!!!! I have been eating it with a spoon :) it tastes like peanut butter fudge on steroids. A.m.a.z.I.n.g.
Glad you enjoyed it. It’s seriously dangerous though huh!!
So I made these and they were delicious. But I do have a question. In the recipe, it calls for a cup of butter. I was wondering if it was only supposed to be a stick of butter because my frosting didn’t really hold up and it was a little buttery…
I always use a full cup (2 sticks), I like to use unsalted if possible. Just to clarify you used actual real butter right? A lot of people confuse it with vegetable oil spread. Another issue might have been the butter was left out too long? Sometimes if the butter is over softened it will cause that problem. :)
How many cupcakes should this yield? Thanks!
24 :)
if i make a double batch of cupcakes will i also need two batches of frosting
That depends on how much frosting you would like. I’m a pile it up high kinda girl, so I would definitely make two batches. But if you’re just spreading over the top one should do nicely. Hope that helps!
Looks awesome! Could I put a mini Reeces in the cake batter and then bake? Thanks!!
My sons baptism is coming up next weekend, can’t wait to make these for everyone! What better way to celebrate?:)
how do you get the icing to come out like that? Like looking that perfect
Just curious, making your cupcakes tonight and the frosting ingredients list vanilla extract but the instructions never indicate a time to add the extract in. Is the vanilla supposed to be added in?
Vanilla is listed in step 2 of the instructions :)
Hi! Just wanted to let you know that the printable page for this recipe doesn’t match the actual recipe in the post – which made me a little sad to realize after I printed it :-( Looks like a yummy recipe and I figured you’d want to know about the mix-up.
Thank you Darcy! I mixed up the recipes when I posted the Reese Cup cake, sry! It’s fixed now but the good news is it’s the same recipe just baked in cupcakes instead. :)
Oh I made them anyway and took them to my quilt guild meeting where everyone pretty much wept with delight over them – thanks!
Awesome! They are dangerously yummy aren’t they?!
Have you ever made them with a Reese in the center? I’m thinking about trying that tomorrow but didn’t know if it would be too much Reese.
Jon is right :) Just freeze them first! Make sure they are good and frozen first then I would reccomend placing 1 TBS of batter in the liner first, then the frozen Reese Cup, and then 2 more TBS of batter making sure the Reese Cup is totally covered. Have fun!
Hi,
I absolutely adore the look of the frosting and was curious as to what size tip, if any, you used to pipe the frosting.
Thank you! I most often use a Tip 2A to pipe these cupcakes. You can find out many more details here – :)
Toni,
Just to let you know, you went from step 5 to step 7… I wasn’t sure if you just accidentally put that in or if you left out a step… haha:) and I love to make cupcakes fun and exciting from the normal! So thanks for all the recipes! This is a WONDERFUL sight!!!:)
Opps thanks! All fixed. Sometimes cupcake sugar highs get in the way of proper counting… ;)
I have made these cupcakes three times now and I always receive so many compliments! Personally, the chocolate cupcake is my favorite part, but everyone else seems to swoon over the peanut butter icing! Either way, these are a hit! Super simple easy to make! My batter yielded approximately 30 cupcakes!
Awesome!!!
Made these for my husband’s birthday and I feel like a rock star. Thank you so much, wish I knew how to upload pic for you
Awesome!!!!
So sad with this. I am a beginner cupcake baker. I misread the TSP, as TBSP. I’ve never seen teaspoon written in caps for a recipe. Needless to say the cupcakes were too salty, and didn’t rise. They were moist though! I’ll have to try again….. as I am in the process of starting over.
Can you substitute the vegetable oil for olive. Or is it better with the vegetable?
Olive oil has a strong flavor which can effect the taste of the cake. If you don’t mind a slight olive oil flavor then go ahead. Chocolate is also a strong flavor and it may be that it would mask the olive oil or tame it down.. Generally it’s good to stick with oils that don’t have strong flavors unless you know exactly what flavor you’re going for and which oil will give you that flavor. I have used melted butter for this recipe and it turns out even better in my opinion. I have also used olive oil for certain cakes and it just gives it a rich, exotic flavor. Italian Creme cakes use olive oil, I know, and it definitely tastes Italian! I like the flavor it gives the Italian Cream but I’m not sure how it’d be with chocolate. I hope that helps.
I just made these and they are so good!! I made them for a friend’s birthday tomorrow and I know she’s going to love them! I was surprised at how moist the cupcakes turned out after seeing how thin the batter was, but they turned out perfect! I don’t normally use a lot of frosting so I halved the peanut butter frosting recipe and it was just right. Thanks for a great recipe, I will definitely be making these again!
Hooray! Glad to hear. Enjoy your treats!
Question. Please answer quickly because I would love to make them today or tomorrow. I did not find any smooth peanut butter anywhere so will it be ok to use creamy peanut butter instead? Would I have to add more milk just to make it smoother?
Creamy and smooth peanut butter will both work just fine. :)
I made the frosting using less powdered sugar so that it wouldn’t be too sweet. It was amazing!!! Thank you!