Ingredients
1 box chocolate cake mix, your favorite
1 c water, per package directions
3 lg eggs, per package directions
1/2 c vegetable oil, per package directions
1 stick butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 c peanut butter
16 oz powdered sugar
4 c milk chocolate chips
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
Reese’s peanut butter cups, for decoration
Directions
Step 1
Mix and bake off chocolate cupcakes according to the box mix instructions. Let them cool, then stick them in the freezer. You can do this step a day ahead if you want. Freezing them helps when it comes to step 7.
Step 2
For the peanut butter frosting: In a mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add peanut butter and mix until combined.
Step 3
Slowly add powdered sugar to the peanut butter mixture on low. You want this to come together so that it feels more like a dough when you roll it between your fingers. Add powdered sugar until you achieve this texture.
Step 4
With clean hands, take a golf ball-sized glob of the frosting out of the bowl and roll it in your hands into a ball. Then slightly flatten it to the size of the cupcake top. Set it on top of the cupcake, then take your palms and flatten the sides of the icing to the top sides of the cupcake all the way around, leaving a small dome in the center.
Step 5
Once done with all the cupcakes, stick them in the freezer to allow the icing to slightly freeze.
Step 6
While the frosting is freezing, take the chocolate and, in a double broiler or in the microwave, melt it. You may need to add a little vegetable oil to thin it out so it’s not so thick to dip. I add around 1 Tbsp of oil. Add oil, not water. Water will cease the chocolate and make it lumpy.
Step 7
Once the chocolate is melted, take the cupcakes out of the freezer. One at a time, turn over and dip the frosted top into the chocolate. This is where having the cupcake frozen comes in handy because if it isn’t, the top of the cupcake, since it is now top-heavy, can fall off.
Step 8
Turn over the cupcake and set it down. Before the chocolate sets all the way, decorate with sprinkles and Reese’s cups. Let the chocolate set up on the cupcakes. You can speed this up by sticking them in the refrigerator.
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