Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes (With Surprise Filling)
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes (With Surprise Filling) packs the center of rich and moist chocolate cupcakes with mini Reese’s Pieces! This exciting treat is then finished off with the best homemade peanut butter frosting!
These cupcakes along with my Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes and Rocky Road Cupcakes are such a tasty way to dress up moist, chocolate cupcakes for a dessert that’s over the top!
Peanut Butter Cupcakes With A Surprise Inside!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes (With Surprise Filling) will be an instant crowd-pleasing dessert for their taste as well as that candy-filled surprise center! These cupcakes are incredibly easy-to-make yet show that you’ve really gone the extra mile from the miniature peanut butter cup on top right down to the surprise centers!
Bite into one of these cupcakes and enjoy every second of flavor and texture that fills your mouth! You get the light and fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting, crunchy mini Reese’s Pieces, and soft chocolate cupcakes all in one bite!
If there’s ever a chocolate peanut butter dessert combination to make, it’s THIS one, trust me! So grab a gallon of ice-cold milk and prepare to really WOW! your friends and family with this over-the-top hand-held dessert that will bring excitement to everyone’s face!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcake Ingredients
A delicious Peanut Butter Cupcake Recipe doesn’t get any easier than this one! Mostly because it starts out by combining a box Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix with a box of Jell-O Instant Chocolate Pudding.
From there it gets doctored up by adding in eggs, sour cream, vegetable oil, whole milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Once the cupcakes are baked, then comes the super fun part!
Coring out the center of each cupcake and filling them with mini Reese’s Pieces! Then hide that surprise candy-filled center by covering the cupcakes in the BEST homemade peanut butter frosting!
Quickly whip up this frosting by combining just 5-ingredients: unsalted butter, creamy peanut butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Then just finish off each cupcake with a Reese’s Miniature!
*Tip Give these cupcakes an added WOW! by using a small frosting tip to frost the Reese’s Cup!
How To Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
- Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Combine all of the cupcake ingredients in a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
- Fill each liner about 3/4 full with cupcake batter. Next, reduce the heat to 350 degrees F.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Then allow them to sit in the muffin pan before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool to room temperature.
- Prepare the peanut butter flavored frosting while the cupcakes cool by first creaming the butters together.
- Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, alternating with tablespoons of heavy cream.
- Stir in the vanilla extract then whip on medium-high speed until frosting is light and fluffy.
- Core the cupcakes using a cupcake corer and fill the holes with mini Reese’s Pieces.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and top each one with a miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup!
Do These Cupcakes Need To Be Refrigerated?
Since the heavy cream is stabilized by the confectioners’ sugar you don’t need to! They’re safe to eat for up to 2-3 days when stored at room temperature.
Where Can I Get A Cupcake Corer?
I use this cupcake corer, which I got on Amazon. You might be able to find one in the baking tools section of Walmart, Hobby Lobby, or another similar store.
Do I Prepare The Boxed Cake and Pudding Mix Before Adding Them?
Nope, you just open up the packages and add them in unprepared! Then continue following this recipe’s instructions.
These Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes are an easy way to please the whole crowd, whether that’s family at home or friends at a party! Try another popular cupcake recipe that’s just as delicious!
- Golden Oreo Cupcakes – A doctored-up box cake mix delivers moist yellow cupcakes with a Golden Oreo base and vanilla creme frosting!
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes – Chocolatey homemade cupcakes topped in a rich strawberry cream cheese frosting topped with a chocolate-covered strawberry!
- Coffee Maple Bacon Cupcakes – Maple-infused vanilla cupcakes loaded with pieces of freshly cooked bacon then covered in a coffee-flavored whipped cream!
- White Chocolate Raspberry Champagne Cupcakes – Fluffy white chocolate cupcakes filled with raspberry filling and finished off with a luscious champagne buttercream frosting!
- Chocolate Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes – Rich chocolate cupcakes dipped in cinnamon sugar then topped with whipped chocolate frosting with cereal pieces!
Let’s Connect!
If you’ve tried this recipe, please let me know how you liked it in the comments below and leave a review. I love hearing from you!
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This recipe was originally published in January 2014 and was updated with new photos in 2023.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcake:
- 1 (15.oz.) box Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix unprepared
- 1 (3.4oz.) box Jell-O Instant Chocolate Pudding unprepared
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Filling
- 1 bag mini Reese's Pieces
Frosting:
- 1 batch Best Peanut Butter Frosting Recipe
- 24 Reese's Miniatures
Instructions
Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a cupcake pan with liners, and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine 1 (15.oz.) box Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix, 1 (3.4oz.) box Jell-O Instant Chocolate Pudding, 4 large eggs, 1 cup sour cream, ¾ cup vegetable oil, ½ cup whole milk, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon salt, making sure to scrape down the sides as needed.
- Add a scant ¼ cup of batter to each liner so they’re about ¾ full.
- Reduce heat to 350°F and bake the cupcakes for about 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes sit in the pan for a couple of minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Use a cupcake corer to core the cupcakes, and divide 1 bag mini Reese's Pieces1 bag mini Reese's Pieces to fill the holes with.
Frosting:
- While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare 1 batch Best Peanut Butter Frosting Recipe as indicated in the recipe instructions.
- Pipe frosting onto the cooled cupcakes. Top each cupcake with one of the 24 Reese's Miniatures.
- For added wow, Use a small frosting tip to frost the Reese’s cup!
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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I want to make a cake using this recipe. Any suggestions. I will not add Reese’s. Sorry if this is a repeat question.
You can make the cake in a 9×13-inch pan or in two 9-inch round pans. They should take about 35 to 45 minutes to bake 🙂
Hi there —
Just reading over the recipe and am curious as to whether you bake the cupcakes for any time at 375 prior to lowering the heat to 350? If not, just wondering what the temperature change does for these 🙂
Hi Kim, you lower the temperature as soon as you put the cupcakes in the oven, so the oven temperature is still 375 when you put it in but set at 350. The initial shock of the high temp helps give the cupcakes a nice dome top and rise, but is too hot to bake the cupcakes at for the whole time.
When I baked these up (I was so excited for them!) and let them cool, they fell in the middle. They still were like a molten lava cake more than a cupcake. I baked them for 20 mins and the toothpick came out clean. Could it be that they needed more baking time?
Hi Ashley, I’m sorry to hear that these didn’t turn out for you. The base cupcakes recipe is the one I make most often of all my recipes and I’ve never had this issue. It’s weird that the toothpick came clean yet they were molten on the inside. Usually, 18-22 minutes should bake them perfectly.
What piping tip did you use on the mini peanut butter cup?
Hi Mary, I used a small star tip similar to the one you see in this set that’s in the middle row and second from the left: https://amzn.to/2MsB55R
MAKE SURE BKING POWDER POUR INTO A BOWL MEASURE FROM THERE AFTER A STIR
Hi Sandi, there’s no baking powder used in this recipe.
I know this is old, but I just made these and mine sank too. They were done in the middle, tho. I think the oven temp is too high for these cupcakes. They are very light and moist. I bake a lot of cupcakes and have never had them fall before. Starting with a lower oven temp and mixing by hand might help with falling cupcakes. They were very light and moist and good tasting, though. I would have started with a lower temp to begin with, but I always try recipes as written first before trying to change them. I like the idea of these, but will probably use my usual from-scratch chocolate cupcake recipe with this concept if I make again.
Hi! I was wondering if adding the mini choc chips and reeses pieces to the cake batter melts them during the baking process? I’m always nervous of something “hard” being inside when you’re not expecting it. Making these tonight for a dear gf!
It doesn’t melt the chocolate chips in a way that makes them gooey, but it does soften them up so it won’t be like hard bits in the cake. The reese’s pieces are the same texture as straight out of the package since they are put inside the cupcakes after baking.
No words. No words to describe all the fabulous-ness of this post. I must.have.this.now
These look divine!
dude! these look AMAZING! And your pics are amazng – awesome shots – some of the best I’ve seen you do! Love it!
Thanks, Laura! I love these shots too… if only that were scratch and sniff/eat!
That recipe looks divine and omg I am dyin’ over how cute they turned out. That frosted Recees cup! 🙂
That double decker is the cutest! And I’ll bet they’re divine!
Thanks, Steph! They’re one of my most requested recipes!
The picture caught my eye because they look perfect! Just thinking I’m going to try this but put the Reese’s Pieces in before they bake. I would think the batter would just cover them. Anyone else try this?
You could definitely try them that way, I’m sure it would be like adding them to cookie dough.
I make a similar recipe, but I like how you used sour cream in yours. They look so delicious.
The sour cream makes such a difference! You can’t taste it but it makes them extremely moist!
Could these be any more darling?! I don’t think I have ever baked with sour cream before, but it sounds like it would work well here.
Sour Cream is amazing when it comes to cakes! You don’t taste it but it makes them so moist!
So adorable! I love that you put frosting on the pnut butter cup! Yum!
I love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate– SO delicious!
Those are beautiful! Great pictures, too. Thanks for sharing and Happy Birthday to your mom
You have a beautiful way with pictures. Lovely!
These cupcakes look amazing and I love the mini peanut butter cup on top!
Oh my goodness, the “mini cupcake” on top is so cute! I love peanut butter and chocolate together, so these are a must make!
I know, isn’t it adorable! My husband told me I was ridiculous but I couldn’t get over the cuteness!