The first cupcake Matt ever added to the Robicelli's repertoire was "The CPB": chocolate cake and peanut butter buttercream topped with roasted peanuts and rich chocolate ganache. Sounds awesome, right? Of course it's awesome—how the hell can you screw something like that up? Of course, we eventually tired of awesome and needed to go past that to "mind blowing." So we decided to roll the entire damn thing in crushed-up pretzels and pour more chocolate over the top. You're welcome.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
Peanut Butter Buttercream
Classic Ganache
To Finish
Chocolate Cake
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two cupcake pans with 24 baking cups.
Step 2
Place the cocoa powder in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and pour the hot coffee over. Mix on low speed until a thick paste forms and the mixture stops steaming, about 1 minute.
Step 3
Increase the mixer speed to medium. In a 4-cup measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, oil, vanilla, egg, egg yolk, and salt and mix lightly with a fork, ensuring yolks are broken. Slowly pour into the mixer bowl.
Step 4
Stop the mixer, detach the paddle, and scrape the bottom of the bowl well to loosen any caked-on cocoa. Reattach the paddle and turn the mixer to medium, letting it run for 1 minute. Stop mixer again.
Step 5
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda and add to the batter. Mix on low speed til just combined. Remove the bowl and paddle and use paddle attachment to scrape down the sides of the bowl, ensuring everything is mixed.
Step 6
Scoop the batter into prepared baking cups, filling them two thirds of the way.
Step 7
Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The cupcakes are done when the centers spring back when you touch them.
Step 8
Remove cupcakes from oven. Let cool completely.
Peanut Butter Buttercream
Step 9
Prepare master recipe for buttercream . Once butter is added, add the peanut butter and salt and mix on high to combine. Taste for seasoning. If desired, add more peanut butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, or a pinch more salt. Continue until, after tasting, your eyes roll into the back of your head.
Classic Ganache
Step 10
Place the chocolate in a bowl, and shake the bowl back and forth until the chocolate flattens out on top.
Step 11
Heat the cream and sea salt in a medium saucepan until it comes to a boil.
Step 12
Immediately pour the hot cream mixture over chocolate, and let sit for two minutes to allow chocolate to melt.
Step 13
Using a heatproof spatula, stir the cream and chocolate together until completely smooth.
Step 14
Allow to cool slightly before drizzling on the cupcakes. The ganache should not be hot to the touch; it should still be liquid. If it cools completely and becomes solid, microwave it on 50 percent power in 20-second intervals, stirring between each, until desired consistency is reached.
Assembly
Step 15
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the peanut buttercream, and pipe onto each chocolate cupcake. Put the cupcakes into the refrigerator so the buttercream hardens, about 20 minutes.
Step 16
Pulse the pretzels and peanuts in a food processor until they're coarse crumbs. Alternately, place in a strong zip-top bag and repeatedly smack the bag with a rolling pin, a heavy skillet, or anything else you find enjoyable. Place the crumbs in a pie dish or baking pan.
Step 17
Remove the cupcakes from the refrigerator and gently roll the sides of the buttercream in the pretzel mixture. Pour a handful of the mixture over the top of each cupcake and lightly pack on with hand. Shake off any excess and set aside.
Step 18
Drizzle ganache across each cupcake.
How would you rate Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cupcakes?
Leave a Review
Reviews (12)
Back to TopThese are excellent! But you must use Dutch process cocoa! I’ve had it with regular and Dutch and there is no comparison. Also use the meringue buttercream from the twelve layer cake recipe but sub peanut butter to taste instead of coffee/mocha. Best ever.
ritajoyholmberg6443
Vancouver, BC, Canada
1/2/2021
These are my favorite cupcakes!! The chocolate cake is perfect - the coffee makes a huge difference, don't skip it. I do my own peanut butter cream cheese frosting, and drizzle the top with Nocciola instead of making the ganache (a soy-free Nutella-like spread). These are always a huge hit. The pretzels aren't necessary for this to be outstanding.
lauraj47479685
Boston, MA
5/16/2020
How could you not try this recipe!?! If you like chocolate and peanut butter, plus the salty crunch of pretzels, this cupcake is a must-try. My only critiques have to do with the buttercream. As another reviewer on the buttercream recipe noted, the amount of butter is dumbfounding. I took out the pound and a half of butter but could not in good conscience use it all. First I put away about 1 1/2 sticks, then cut up the rest, and then stopped putting butter in leaving about a sandwich baggie sized amount out of the recipe. With that amount of butter that I used, the recipe was delicious, especially after adding the peanut butter. I only wish I had added some more sea salt to the recipe.
ryadria
Westchester, NY
1/1/2019
I love this cake!!! Thank you for blogging about it. Very Nice Article…
cakengifts
CakenGifts.in
7/3/2017
Oh. My. God. So amazing. Yes, these take a while to make. We didn't even get to the ganashe - that just seemed too much. They are very rich. With the crushed pretzels and peanut topping, they look worth every bit of effort. I'm guessing that on the 2nd day (if they last that long for you!), the pretzel topping does get mushy so next time I'm going to roll in topping as needed.
karimcgee
Portland, OR
9/7/2015
Absolutely delicious! Well worth all the time and effort! I won our annual Cupcake War at work. I didn't use the xanthan in the buttercream and it still held firm.
suegroetsch
Naperville, IL
6/18/2015
This is a labor-intensive recipe but well worth it. We used yogurt instead of buttermilk, half'n'half instead of cream and my daughter even used granular sugar in the frosting (for some reason, at age 26, she had no idea what "confectioner's sugar" meant) - no problem because the grainy texture was buried amongst all of the other taste and texture sensations. Yummy!
dmsyoung
Kirkland WA
4/21/2014
This recipe is a new favorite. It is one of the best I have ever had. I skipped the pretzel, ganache, and peanut topping and still received many, many compliments. It is very rich so I think the extra toppings would be too much. Perfect without. More to my own personal taste, I used only one pound of butter instead of one and a half pounds for the buttercream frosting and added a little extra peanut butter.
teresalue
Washington
3/30/2014
Really great recipe, only negative was that I chose to crush pretzel rods for the topping that was delicious the first day and went stale the next day so if you are planning on making these a day ahead, use a pretzel that will last a couple days longer. These flavors are amazing and the salty pretzel is a must. Enjoy!
madslicer
New York City
11/4/2013
I made these for a Halloween party and they were a hit. I followed the recipe except I didn't have buttermilk so I substituted 3 parts yogurt to 1 part milk. I made them into mini cupcakes (cook time was about 18-20 minutes). I also used Martha Stewart's peanutbutter butter cream frosting recipe. http://www.marthastewart.com/312753/peanut-butter-buttercream The cake itself was moist and not too sweet. The frosting and toppings all really complimented each other. The mini cupcake was a good choice because these cupcakes are rich (like I need a glass of milk after one bite-rich)! I tried to add reeses pieces for color, I wouldn't recommend it, they had enough going on as is. Overall, a delicious recipe and the cupcakes really do turn out like the picture.
MissGeeBee
Irvine, CA
10/28/2013
My dream cupcake! and I will eat them all!
cheesewhiffer
Edmonds, WA
10/25/2013
This cupcake is way over awesome, and for that reason, I could never make them, because I would not be able to keep from eating most if not all.
jctime2lose
Port Orchard, WA
10/25/2013
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