Cocoa Powder and Cupcakes

Normally I'm not one to be affected much by the richness of a dessert. The notable exception is peanut butter and chocolate desserts. Something about the combination of flavors, honestly, takes me to a dark place. It probably stems back to a misspent childhood of gorging myself of Reese's Pieces (also the reason circus peanuts changed overnight from my favorite to most revolting candy). These cupcakes were an effort to overcome these feelings and to do another test run of my new layer cake guidelines. Spoiler alert: success!

I'm also super excited to announce my new short ebook! It's a great little guide for creating a cake recipe that goes far above and beyond what's found on the site already. Cakery is 90% new content, and the content which is from the blog had been retooled and adjusted, in light of some research and experiments I've done since then. So if you liked the recipe development posts and want to take your cakes to the next level, there's a button in the upper left-hand corner that'll take you through a quick and easy Google Checkout so you can get the book within minutes. Did I mention it's only $5?

I'm also giving away a couple of free copies! All you have to do to win one is follow me with Google Friend Connect (the gadget is at the bottom of the page). So click the little join button (you won't get any spam, just a feed of my blog posts) and in a couple of days, I'll send the winners an email. Good luck!

A note on cocoa powder: I wanted a very chocolatey cake, bordering on bitter, and I got it. I recommend, then, not using cocoa powder for any more than 1/3 of your driers.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces AP flour
• 2 ounces cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3.6 ounces butter, softened
• 3 ounces sugar
• 1 egg
• 4.2 ounces milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 ounces butter, softened
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. First, preheat the oven to about 360 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with papers and set aside.
2. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add in the egg and beat until combined.
5. Alternate in the driers and the milk and vanilla until all are combined.
6. Scoop the batter into the cupcake papers, filling about half full.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Once the cupcakes have cooled, beat together the 4 oz butter, the peanut butter, and the powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Ice the cupcakes.

What childhood candies set your stomach churning?

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