PB&J Cupcakes
These PB&J Cupcakes have a Peanut Butter cupcake with swirled Raspberry Jam, Peanut Butter Buttercream, Peanut Butter Crumb and Raspberry Jam decoration.
Okay, I know I only recently shared the recipe for my Reese’s Peanut Butter Cake but I am obsessed with Peanut Butter at the moment. Do you ever go through a stage and there is a certain food that you only want to eat? That is me just now with Peanut Butter.
These cupcakes I have made a few different times they are the peanut butter cupcakes I gave to my mum that finally convinced her that Peanut Butter is the best thing on the planet! They are honestly the best PB&J cupcakes ever!
Reasons to Love This Recipe
PB&J – So Peanut Butter & Jelly might seem like a bit of a strange combination to anyone living in the UK but trust me, it is delicious. The combination of Peanut Butter and Raspberry Jam (or jelly if you live in the US) is utterly heavenly! In this recipe, I added peanut butter to the cake mixture as I do in my Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. I then swirl through the jam, in a way that there are little pockets of Raspberry goodness when you bite into the cupcake rather than it being mixed completely in with the peanut butter.
Peanut Butter Crumb – As a decoration to this cake I used a Peanut Butter Crumb. This is super easy to make and only needs two ingredients. Both of which you need to make the buttercream for the cake so you don’t need to buy anything extra.
Cupcakes are a quick and easy bake – Cupcakes are one of my quick and easy favourite bakes. I mean it only takes 15-20 minutes to bake them. So, depending on how long it takes them to cool you could have a delicious, freshly-baked cupcake in less than an hour and a half!
Before You Start Baking
Okay, so before you start baking it is important that you preheat your oven. This is always the first thing I do when I get into my kitchen, and by the time I have made the cupcake batter the oven is ready to go.
It just means that you aren’t hanging around waiting for the oven to warm up once you have your cupcake batter ready.
Related Recipes
Chocolate Peanut Butter Drip Cake
Another thing I do is line my muffin tray or baking tray. This way again, when the cupcake batter is ready it means that it can be split between the cupcake cases and put in the oven straight away. A lot of cake and cupcake batters don’t do well sitting out for long periods after they have been mixed.
I always use these Baking Cups from Iced Jems. I love the shape of them and they make the perfect sized cupcake. They come in so many different colours and designs and are just so pretty, I love them. Anyway.
How to Make Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Like the start of all my cake recipes to make these peanut butter cupcakes we need to start by creaming together the butter and sugar.
In this recipe, I used light brown sugar as I love how it gives the cupcake a slight caramelly hint which works perfectly with the peanut butter. If you don’t have light brown sugar or don’t like it then you can just replace it with caster sugar. It won’t make a massive difference to the cupcake; they just won’t have that caramelly hint.
Once you have added in all the ingredients except from the raspberry jam mix them together until completely combined. I use 1 egg for every 50g of sugar I use. So, in this recipe, I use 145g of light brown sugar therefore I use three eggs. I just find it is the perfect ratio and makes the cupcakes lovely and light.
I also add in milk, please don’t leave this out. If you do your cupcakes will be super dry and not particularly nice. The milk helps add moisture and balances out the dryness of the peanut butter.
Finally, swirl through the jam. To do this I added the jam 2-3 tablespoons at a time and then using my spatula in a folding motion to incorporate the jam. You don’t want to beat it because you don’t want the jam to be completely combined, you want there to be little pockets of jam throughout the cupcakes.
Once you have swirled the jam through split the mixture between your cupcake cases. I find the easiest way to do this is by using an ice-cream scoop that way I know that each cupcake case has the same amount of batter in each one.
How Do I Know When the Cupcakes Are Baked?
There are a few different ways to tell when cupcakes are baked. One of the ways is to gently press down on the top of the cupcake if it springs back to its original position when you remove your finger then the cupcakes are ready. If there is a dent in the top of your cupcake where your finger was then the cupcakes aren’t quite ready. Put them back into the oven for 3-4 minutes and repeat.
Another way to tell is by listening to your cupcakes. I know, I know this sounds weird, but go along with me. If you can hear the cupcakes bubbling and popping when you take them out of the oven then they aren’t ready. Put them back into the oven for 3-4 minutes and repeat. The cupcakes are ready when they are completely quiet.
I wouldn’t recommend using a cake tester on these cupcakes because if you hit a pocket of jam then the skewer will come out with jam on. It might look like they aren’t ready when in fact they are.
How To Cool the Cupcakes
Leave the cupcakes in the muffin tray for 15-20 minutes after removing them from the oven. Then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
How to make Peanut Butter Buttercream
I am fairly sure I have said this before and I will say it again, this Peanut Butter Buttercream is the best buttercream on the planet. It is my absolute favourite, and it is super simple to make.
Once your cupcakes have cooled completely, add the icing sugar and unsalted butter to a large bowl and mix until completely smooth and pale in colour.
For the buttercream, you MUST use unsalted butter, the kind that you buy in block form in the supermarket. It normally comes wrapped in foil. You don’t want to use a baking spread like Stork as it will just be far too soft and the buttercream won’t hold its shape.
Once the buttercream is lovely and smooth add in the peanut butter and mix again. The peanut butter will make the buttercream quite thick and dry, so add one tablespoon of milk at a time stirring in between each addition until it reaches the perfect piping consistency.
Put it into your piping bag and leave it to one side. I decided to go with a little bit of a different look with these cupcakes so I used a Jumbo Open Star Piping Tip and these piping bags.
How To Make the Peanut Butter Crumb
The Peanut Butter crumb is such a quick and easy decoration for the cupcakes. All you need to do is add the icing sugar and peanut butter to a bowl and rub it between your fingers until it starts to form crumbs.
You could also do this in a food processor, pulsing the icing sugar and peanut butter until it forms crumbs.
Once you have the crumb consistency leave to one side.
Putting it All Together
Pipe the buttercream onto the top of the cooled cupcakes. When piping I always start in the middle of the cupcake and pipe outwards and then upwards. For these cupcakes, I didn’t do a swirl but instead piped around the edge of the cupcakes to create a well in the centre.
Once you have piped all the buttercream onto your cupcakes sprinkle over the peanut butter crumb and leave them to one side.
Add the jam to a piping bag and pop it into the microwave for 10-20 seconds to loosen it slightly. If you are using disposable piping bags snip the tip off the end of the bag and pipe the jam into the centre of the well of buttercream.
If you are using reusable piping bags, I would recommend using a small round nozzle to add the jam to the cupcakes.
Alternatives
You could use a different flavoured jam if you prefer but I really would recommend using raspberry and the flavour just works so well with the peanut butter.
Equipment
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PB&J Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 145 g Light Brown Sugar
- 145 g Unsalted Butter or Stork
- 145 g Self-Raising Flour
- 3 Large Eggs
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 100 g Smooth Peanut Butter
- 30 ml Whole Milk
- 100 g Seedless Raspberry Jam
For the Buttercream
- 400 g Icing Sugar
- 200 g Unsalted Butter
- 100 g Smooth Peanut Butter
- 3-4 tbsp Whole Milk
For the Decoration
- 50 g Icing Sugar
- 50 g Smooth Peanut Butter
- 50 g Seedless Raspberry Jam
Instructions
To Make the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160 Fan. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners and leave to one side.
- In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
- Add in the flour, eggs, baking powder, peanut butter and milk and mix until completely combined.
- Fold through the jam. You don’t want to completely mix it in, you want there to be little pockets of raspberry.
- Spoon the mixture into the cupcake liners. I use a small ice cream scoop to do this so I know that they are all even.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. You will know the cupcakes are ready when they are golden brown and springy to touch.
- Leave to cool in the muffin tray for 15-20 minutes before moving them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To Make the Buttercream
- Mix together the icing sugar and butter until thick and creamy.
- Add in the peanut butter and mix again until completely combined. If you find the buttercream is too thick add 1tbsp of milk and mix again. Repeat until the buttercream is the desired consistency.
- Pop the buttercream into a piping bag and leave to one side.
To Make the Peanut Butter Crumb
- Add the icing sugar and peanut butter to a bowl and rub together until it forms small crumbs. Leave to one side.
Putting it all Together
- Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes. I piped it around the edge of the cupcake to create a slight well in the middle. Sprinkle over the peanut butter crumb.
- Add the jam to a piping bag and pop in the microwave for 10-20 seconds to soften.
- Pipe the jam into the centre of the well of buttercream.