I saw this recipe for peanut butter icing on Wilton's website some time ago, and have been wanting to try it ever since. With my mom's birthday approaching, I decided it was the perfect opportunity.
I made my go-to chocolate cupcakes, Pilsbury devils food, with my standard extra egg. The icing recipe wasn't difficult to follow. The only hitch was that I thought I had some creamy peanut butter on hand from another recipe, but after I started mixing the icing, I discovered I only had Jiff extra crunchy in the pantry - typically the only kind of peanut butter I buy. Next time, I would try the recipe with the creamy peanut butter instead.
With this recipe, I was very thankful for my KitchenAid mixer. Before adding the milk, the icing was very thick, like a dry cookie dough. My mixer made quick work of the icing, but I wouldn't want to attempt it with a hand mixer.
For decorating, I tried to pick decorations that would match the brown and tan colors of chocolate and peanut butter, but still be fitting for my mom. I found some brown and blue toile cupcake wrappers and Michael's and some fun blue pearl-like sprinkles (that just so happened to be the same color as March's birthstone).
When it came time to pipe, the crunchy peanut butter came back to haunt me. I knew from past experience that icing containing nuts wouldn't be the easiest to pipe. (Tip - ever wonder why all the piping on German chocolate cakes is done with plain chocolate icing??) I used my Wilton 1M tip because it had the largest tip for nuts to pass through. I still had to use a toothpick several times to dislodge a nut that had gotten stuck.
Usually when I make icing for cupcakes, I make a batch and a half. This recipe had lots of ingredients in 1/3 quantities, and my measuring cups don't have any 1/6 marks. So in the interest of saving brainpower and not having to do any complicated math, I only made a single batch. I tried to pipe conservatively and not use too much icing, but I still ran out of icing on the last 2 cupcakes. I spread a thin layer on with a spatula and used those as taste testers. I wasn't going to stack these in my cupcake tree, so having a full batch to display wasn't an issue.
I have to say that I was very pleased with the results. The peanut butter icing was so creamy and tasty, it was kind of like the inside of a candy bar. Of all the cupcakes I have made, these are definitely near the top!
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I made my go-to chocolate cupcakes, Pilsbury devils food, with my standard extra egg. The icing recipe wasn't difficult to follow. The only hitch was that I thought I had some creamy peanut butter on hand from another recipe, but after I started mixing the icing, I discovered I only had Jiff extra crunchy in the pantry - typically the only kind of peanut butter I buy. Next time, I would try the recipe with the creamy peanut butter instead.
With this recipe, I was very thankful for my KitchenAid mixer. Before adding the milk, the icing was very thick, like a dry cookie dough. My mixer made quick work of the icing, but I wouldn't want to attempt it with a hand mixer.
When it came time to pipe, the crunchy peanut butter came back to haunt me. I knew from past experience that icing containing nuts wouldn't be the easiest to pipe. (Tip - ever wonder why all the piping on German chocolate cakes is done with plain chocolate icing??) I used my Wilton 1M tip because it had the largest tip for nuts to pass through. I still had to use a toothpick several times to dislodge a nut that had gotten stuck.
Usually when I make icing for cupcakes, I make a batch and a half. This recipe had lots of ingredients in 1/3 quantities, and my measuring cups don't have any 1/6 marks. So in the interest of saving brainpower and not having to do any complicated math, I only made a single batch. I tried to pipe conservatively and not use too much icing, but I still ran out of icing on the last 2 cupcakes. I spread a thin layer on with a spatula and used those as taste testers. I wasn't going to stack these in my cupcake tree, so having a full batch to display wasn't an issue.
I have to say that I was very pleased with the results. The peanut butter icing was so creamy and tasty, it was kind of like the inside of a candy bar. Of all the cupcakes I have made, these are definitely near the top!
