These cupcakes come from The Primrose Bakery Cookbook and are absolutely delicious! Apologies for the quality of the picture. It’s been so dark and dull here all day. We can only hope for better weather tomorrow!

I have a bit of a cupcake obsession at the moment and I’ve been trying all kinds of different ideas. The Primrose Bakery Cookbook is an excellent book and I use it quite regularly for the vanilla cupcake and buttercream recipes. There are quite a few recipes I had bookmarked to make but hadn’t gotten around to yet. One of them was this chocolate & peanut butter cupcake. I just had to check I had all the ingredients to make them – a quick check in the cupboard – yes!

These cupcakes turned out incredibly moist. They are topped with a milk chocolate ganache which complements the cakes perfectly. I topped the cupcakes with peanut butter chips which my lovely American friend gave me on her last visit to Scotland.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes From The Primrose Bakery

75g unsalted butter, at room temperature
130g smooth peanut butter (I wouldn’t recommend a natural style here – something like SunPat or Skippy. I used Asda’s smooth peanut butter.)
190g dark soft brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
120g plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
60ml semi-skimmed milk (I used full-fat)

Preheat the oven to 160C(fan)180C/350F/gas mark 4. Line a 12 hole muffins tray with liners.

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 extract.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add one third of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat well. Pour in one third of the milk and beat again. Repeat until all the flour mixture and milk have been incorporated.

Spoon into cupcake liners, filling them two thirds full. Bake for around 20 minutes until risen and golden brown.

Milk Chocolate Icing

60ml Double cream
30g butter, softened
300g good quality milk chocolate, broken into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the double cream and butter in a saucepan over a very low heat. Stir continuously – do not let the mixture come to a boil. As soon as the butter is melted, remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Allow the chocolate to melt in the pan, you still need to stir the mixture gently. If any chocolate doesn’t melt, add the pan back onto a very low heat and let it melt. Add the vanilla extract and stir. If you find it’s a little too runny don’t worry – it will thicken up as it stands.