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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes are the chocolate-PB fix in cupcake form, a rich cocoa crumb studded with Reese”s peanut butter chips under a cloud of whipped white chocolate frosting, and the rainy Saturday we tested them, Maddie and Lizzie split the last one with a fork and negotiated over the frosting. If you live for this flavor combo, our chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels are the snackable version.
The batter is a simple one bowl cream-and-fold situation, and the white chocolate frosting whips up while the cupcakes cool.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 30 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 20 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 50 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 12 cupcakes
- ⚡ Calories: 393kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Rich cocoa and melty peanut butter under sweet white chocolate frosting
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy baking project, same lane as our funfetti cupcakes
Quick Answer
Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, and baking powder, then beat softened butter with eggs and combine with the dry mix and milk. Fold in a cup of peanut butter chips, divide between 12 lined cupcake wells, and bake at 350F for 17 to 20 minutes. Frost the cooled cupcakes with whipped white chocolate frosting and garnish with more peanut butter chips.
Jump to:
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes FAQs
- Other Recommended Cupcake Recipes
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Chips beat swirls in the batter. Peanut butter chips keep their pockets of flavor while baking, where swirled peanut butter would sink and gum up the crumb.
- Creaming the butter first. Whipping the softened butter before the eggs go in builds the air structure that keeps a cocoa-heavy batter light instead of dense.
- Dry mix in batches. Adding the flour mixture in thirds lets it hydrate evenly, dumping it at once forms pockets of dry cocoa that never fully blend.
- Milk goes in last. Streaming the milk in after the flour loosens the thick batter to a scoopable consistency without overmixing the gluten.
- Melted white chocolate in the frosting. Cooled melted chips whip into the butter and sugar like a ganache, giving the frosting body and a true white chocolate flavor, not just sweetness.
- The 3 minute whip. Beating the finished frosting on medium high fills it with air so it pipes in soft, glossy swirls that hold overnight.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It is the chocolate peanut butter combo everybody claims as their favorite, in a hand-held, party-ready package.
- The white chocolate frosting is sneaky-special, it whips up like buttercream but tastes like truffle filling, worth stealing for our lemon cupcakes too.
- One bowl for the batter, one for the frosting, and no decorating skills needed beyond a swirl and a handful of chips.
Key Ingredients
A rich cocoa batter and a whipped white chocolate frosting, with peanut butter chips working both shifts.
- Cocoa Powder: Four tablespoons give the cupcakes a deep chocolate base without weighing down the crumb.
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips: A full cup goes into the batter and more on top. They half-melt while baking into little pockets of peanut butter in every bite.
- Butter: Softened butter creams into both the batter and the frosting, richness in the cake, structure in the swirl.
- White Chocolate Chips: Melted and whipped into the frosting, they make it taste like the inside of a truffle instead of plain buttercream.
- Heavy Whipping Cream: Two tablespoons loosen the frosting into that soft, pipeable swirl that holds its shape on top.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
This base cupcake takes flavor swaps like a champ, here is where to start.
- Full Reese’s mode: Press half a mini peanut butter cup into each cupcake before baking and top the frosting with chopped cups.
- Peanut butter frosting: Swap the white chocolate for a half cup of creamy peanut butter for the double-PB version, our Reese”s cookies energy in frosting form.
- Chocolate on chocolate: Frost them with our chocolate cream cheese frosting for the full fudge experience.
- Sea salt finish: A tiny pinch of flaky salt on the frosting makes the peanut butter pop even harder.
- Mini size: Bake in mini tins for about 11 minutes for two-bite party poppers, this batch makes around 36 minis.
How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a cupcake tin with 12 liners. In a small bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking powder until combined.
- Cream the butter on medium speed with an electric hand mixer until soft and creamy, then add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each.
- Add the flour mixture to the batter in 3 batches, scraping down the sides as needed, then stir in the milk until well combined.
- Fold in the peanut butter chips.
- Divide the batter evenly between the liners and bake for 17 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the frosting, cream the butter in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment until smooth, then add the powdered sugar a little at a time until mixed in.
- Stir in the heavy cream, then add the melted and slightly cooled white chocolate. Turn the mixer to medium high and whip for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Frost the completely cooled cupcakes and garnish with more peanut butter chips.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Cool the melted white chocolate for 5 minutes before it hits the frosting, hot chocolate melts the butter and the whole bowl turns to soup.
- Do not overfill the liners, two thirds full is the line, these rise more than they look like they will.
- Toothpick test between chips. A tester through a melty peanut butter chip reads wet even when the crumb is done, poke twice.
- Cool completely before frosting, even slightly warm cupcakes slide the swirl right off.
- Toss the chips in a spoonful of the dry mix before folding them in and they will not sink to the bottoms.
- Frosting too loose to pipe? Refrigerate it 10 minutes and re-whip briefly, the white chocolate firms as it cools.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
They are a birthday-party natural next to a batch of our funfetti cupcakes, one tray chocolate, one tray confetti, everybody wins.
For a bake sale table, pair them with Reese”s cookies and watch the peanut butter section sell out first.
Making a grown-up dessert spread? Set them beside our margarita cupcakes and let people pick their vibe.
Store frosted cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or refrigerated up to 5, and let them come to room temperature before serving so the frosting softens back to silky.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes FAQs
This recipe whips melted white chocolate into a butter and powdered sugar base, a frosting that tastes like truffle filling and pairs beautifully with the cocoa crumb and peanut butter chips. Classic peanut butter frosting or chocolate cream cheese frosting are equally great directions if you want to double down.
Yes, a chocolate cake mix prepared per the box with a cup of peanut butter chips folded in gets you very close to these chocolate peanut butter cupcakes in half the time. The scratch batter here has a slightly denser, richer crumb, but the mix shortcut is completely legitimate.
Chips sink when the batter is too thin or the chips go in untossed. This batter is thick enough to suspend them, so measure the milk carefully, and toss the chips with a spoonful of the dry mixture before folding them in. That light flour coating grips the batter and keeps them distributed.
Store chocolate peanut butter cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 5. The unfrosted cupcakes freeze well for 2 months, thaw them at room temperature and frost fresh for the best texture.
Absolutely. Bake the cupcakes a day ahead and store them airtight at room temperature, and make the frosting up to 3 days ahead in the refrigerator, then let it soften and re-whip before piping. Fully frosted chocolate peanut butter cupcakes also hold overnight in a covered container.
These chocolate peanut butter cupcakes use Reese’s peanut butter chips instead of jarred peanut butter, the chips hold their shape while baking and create melty pockets through the chocolate crumb. If you want spreadable peanut butter flavor too, swirl the frosting with a few tablespoons of creamy peanut butter.
Need a donut-shaped chocolate fix instead? Our chocolate chip cake donuts bake in the same amount of time.
For Valentine’s Day baking, our surprise inside Valentine cupcakes steal the show every February.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 ounces unsalted butter softened
- 2 large eggs
- 3 ounces milk
- 1 cup peanut butter chips
Frosting
- 4 ounces unsalted butter softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup white chocolate chips melted and cooled slightly
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake liners.
- In a small bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking powder until combined.1 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 4 tablespoons cocoa powder, 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Cream the butter on medium speed with an electric hand mixer until it’s very soft and creamy and add the eggs one at a time.4 ounces unsalted butter, 2 large eggs
- Add the flour mixture to the batter in 3 batches, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Stir in the milk until well combined.3 ounces milk
- Fold in the peanut butter chips.1 cup peanut butter chips
- Divide the batter evenly between the liners and cook for about 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Frosting:
- In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, cream the butter until smooth.4 ounces unsalted butter
- Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until mixed in.2 cups powdered sugar
- Stir in the heavy cream and scrape down the sides as needed.2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- Add the melted white chocolate and mix it in, turn the mixer on medium-high and whip for 3 minutes.1 cup white chocolate chips
- Frost your cupcakes and add more peanut butter chips for garnish.
Notes
- Use a piping bag to create professional-looking frosted tops.
- Make sure all your ingredients, especially butter and eggs, are at room temperature for the best results.
- Fill cupcake liners about ¾ full to avoid overflowing.
- Use a toothpick to check doneness – it should come out clean from the center of the cupcake.
- Let cupcakes cool on a wire rack before frosting to prevent the frosting from melting.
- For a fun twist, use a cupcake corer to add a dollop of extra peanut butter chips or chocolate ganache inside each cupcake.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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Oh my gosh, these are fabulous! I love peanut butter and white chocolate together!
These are my new favorite cupcakes! So fluffy and full of chocolate peanut butter flavor! SWOON!