I wanted to make themed cupcakes for my mini world cup party for the USA v Ghana game. Peanut butter is the most American I could think of on short notice. I used the Peanut Butter cake recipe from The Primrose Bakery book. They came out very good. You never know with peanut butter it could come out dry. These came out really moist.
M&M's where the best last minute Red, White & Blue decorations I could find
Peanut Butter Cupcakes
adapted from The Primrose Bakery - makes 12
Ingredients
75g unsalted butter at room temperature
130g smooth peanut butter
190g dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
120g sifted plain flour (I always use self-raising)
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
60ml semi-skimmed milk at room temperature (I used soy milk)
1. Preheat Oven to 180 C and line muffin tin with paper liners.
My mom sent me American flag liners for 4th of July but they didn't make it for this so I used these cute paper liners I bought from Bake it Pretty awhile ago
2. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing for a few minutes after each addition,and then stir in the vanilla.
that's a lot of brown sugar!
3. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add one third of the flour to the peanut butter mixture and beat well. Pour in one third of the milk and beat again. Repeat until all flour and milk has been added.
4. Spoon mixture into cases 1/2-2/3 full (I like to do 2 cookie scoops of batter for each). Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until slightly raised and golden brown. A cake tester inserted in the middle should come out clean. Remove from the oven and leave cakes to cool.
I also chose a peanut butter frosting. I thought it would be too much with the peanut butter cake but it wasn't at all. The frosting is really light and so good. The recipe came from The Red Deer.
Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue Buttercream
adapted from The Red Deer
Ingredients
4 egg whites
1 1/4 cup caster sugar
250g unsalted butter at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbs peanut butter (I used 4 really heaping spoonfuls)
1. Using a double boiler combine the egg whites and caster sugar. Turn heat up to medium high and whisk (by hand) until sugar is combined and mixture is as hot as you can get it. Take off the heat and whisk egg whites on high speed with an electric mixer until a stiff meringue is formed and the mixture cools down to room temperature (the egg whites will start to fluff up so I transfered my mixture from the stove into a large bowl).
2. Once cooled lower the speed and add the butter a few tablespoons at a time. Once all the butter has been added switch the mixer to medium speed and add the vanilla and peanut butter. Continue to mix until consistency is thick enough to pipe.
This filling would also be great for whoopie pies!
