Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanutbutter Frosting

Yay, it's Oscar night. And since I still have free time, I can watch it without feeling guilty and be completely overtired the next day. I am not sure I manage the whole show, but I will try my very best. Also, it is time to celebrate one of my favourite flavour combinations, so I will have something to snack on tonight :-)
It is chocolate and peanut butter and it is about time I came along with a new cupcake recipe.




Ingredients for the cupcakes:

• 125 g butter
• 125 g sugar
• 125 g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 medium free range eggs
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar/vanilla extract
• 4 tbsp milk

And how to make them:

• beat the butter until creamy
• add sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla, and cocoa and mix
• add the eggs, for extra fluffyness you can also separate the eggs and whip the eggwhites before carefully folding them in with the rest
• add the milk
• spoon into muffin tin (with muffin papers)
• bake in a preheated oven at 190 °C for 20-25 mins.

Now on to the frosting:

• I only give rough directions as I never measure it out...
• take 2 large tbsp of creamy peanut butter and equal amounts of butter and whip until soft and creamy
• add a pinch of salt
• now slowly add icing sugar while constant whipping until you have the consistency you are looking for
• then add a bit more icing sugar, so that it looks a bit too dry
• now add a little bit of milk and bring it back to a smooth paste
• that's it

Once the cupcakes are cooled, add the frosting in any style you like and top with some crushed peanuts. I use the roastes salted one to have a bit of contrast to the very sweet buttercream frosting. It's a bit like salted caramel. But you might as well use unsalted ones or leave them out completely.

And now, the winner is....

Lime Cupcakes

Hello, hello :-)

Another thing I got in masses from the market is limes. So apart from adding limes to my water and adding lime juice to my fruit salad, I have been looking a long time for a good recipe for lime cupcakes. And this is what I found somewhere in the internet. As usual, I have made some changes.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 heaped tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 60 g unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1 egg
• zest and juice of two limes (or more to taste)
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• for the frosting: 60 g unsalted butter, 1 cup powder sugar, juice of 1-2 limes

And how to make them:

• pre-heat the oven to 175 °C
• sift flour into a bowl and add baking powder and salt
• in another bowl whisk the butter until fluffy and slowly add the sugar
• when finished add the lime zest and small portions of the lime juice. At this stage, the mixture might look curdled, but don't worry, it will come back together
• next, add 1/3 of the flour mix, followed by half of the buttermilk, another 1/3 of the flour mix, buttermilk and last portion of the flour mix
• don't overwork the batter, rather mix with a rubber spatula after the last bit of flour is just incorporated
• divide the batter between 12 large or 24 micro muffin cups, place in muffin tray and bake for 25-30 mins (micro ones for 15-20 mins)
• while the cakes are baking, prepare the frosting
• whisk the butter until it becomes lighter in texture and colour
• add powder sugar in small portions until the buttercream looks just a bit dry (but not crumbly)
• next add lime juice little by little until you reach a smooth texture and the aciditiy you are looking for
• place in a piping bag and set aside until the cakes are ready and cooled
• once they are completely cool, pipe the frosting and add decoration (if wanted, candied lime peel works well)

Voila!