Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Nutella Ganache

Made Famous By Heather McMullin

Did I mention that they are stuffed with pieces of Reeses???

I had a dream.

Literally.

I was driving in my car and had the most wonderful day dream about making these cupcakes.

As I started thinking of the many wonderful ways of making them,

even better ideas kept popping in my mind. The result is this beauty. Just thinking about how

wonderfully fluffy the peanut butter frosting was when I took my first bite makes my mouth water.

It was like biting into a peanut butter cloud.
Not to mention the amazing cup cake underneath it. Me-oh-my!!

I love the cup cake recipe because it is an amazing way to doctor up a box mix and make it taste

like it was from scratch. Which in my book....more power to ya!!

And the frosting......

I cannot even describe to you how good this frosting is.

When I tasted it, it was one of those moments in life you will treasure and remember always.

I am not exaggerating. Try it. NOW! You will never want to make another frosting again.

Just take out the peanut butter and you have a dreamy white frosting to go on almost anything.

The possibilities are endless!!!!

PS These would be great for Mother's Day!

**For this recipe you will want to start your frosting, then make your cake while the first step of the frosting is cooling down. While the cake is cooking the first step of the frosting will cool to room temperature and you can finish making it.**


Chocolate Cup Cakes
**This recipe will also make an amazing cake**

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix

1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla and water. Beat for about two minutes on medium speed until well combined.

3. Using a large cookie scoop, distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched. . Allow cupcakes to cool inside muffin tins for about 10 minutes.

5. Remove cupcakes from muffin tins and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, take a little of the middle out to prepare them for the stuffing. Assemble them like this: Fill them with the peanut butter frosting with Reeses, put a layer of Nutella Ganache on the top of the cupcake (stay away from the edges), frost the cupcakes with the peanut butter frosting, drizzle with nutella ganache, then cut a reeses in half the add it to the top.

Peanut Butter Frosting
*Adapted from the best frosting EVER!*


5 Tablespoons Flour
1 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Butter
1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)
1/4 C Peanut Butter
6 Reeses Peanut Butter cups (chopped)


In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.
While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

** Reserve a cup of the frosting when you are done making it and add the chopped up Reese's Peanut Butter cups to it. Use this mixture to put in the hole you made in the cupcakes then frost the cup cakes with the regular frosting.

Nutella Ganache
2 C Nutella
2 C Heavy Cream

Put the Nutella and heavy cream in a bowl and heat it in the microwave for 1 minute.
Take it out and stir it. If it is not melted enough heat it for another minute.