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!
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!
Rebecca’s Recipe Review
Taste: Chocolaty cupcakes loaded with Reese’s Pieces and fluffy peanut butter frosting!
Texture: Light and fluffy cupcakes, crunchy candy pieces, and smooth frosting!
Ease: 4/10, making cupcakes with a surprise filling is actually quite easy!
Pros: The surprise filling really makes for an exciting dessert!
Cons: Coring and filling the cupcakes add a few extra steps to the recipe compared to other cupcake recipes.
Would I Make This Again? Yes, this is the perfect dessert for chocolate peanut butter lovers!
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!
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!
Rebecca’s Tips
- Do not prepare the boxed cake mix or the pudding mix according to their boxed instructions. These are added into the batter dry, unprepared.
- Only fill the cupcake liners with ¼ cup of batter so they’re about ¾ full. We don’t want big domes on the cupcakes!
- Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before coring and filling them. If you work with the cupcakes when they’re warm, they may fall apart.
- A cupcake corer is the easiest way to create a spot for the surprise filling. I got mine from Amazon, but you may be able to find one in the baking tools section of Walmart, Hobby Lobby, or another similar store.
- Give these cupcakes an added WOW! by using a small frosting tip to frost the Reese’s Cup!
How To Store Chocolate Cupcakes
Since the heavy cream is stabilized by the confectioners’ sugar these cupcakes do not need to be refrigerated. They’re safe to eat for up to 2-3 days when stored at room temperature.
More Cupcake Recipes:
- Golden Oreo Cupcakes – Made easily by using doctored-up box cake mix!
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes – Finished off with a chocolate-covered strawberry!
- Coffee Maple Bacon Cupcakes – Maple-infused vanilla cupcakes topped with bacon!
- White Chocolate Raspberry Champagne Cupcakes – Completely with raspberry-filled centers!
- Chocolate Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes – Rich chocolate cupcakes dipped in cinnamon sugar!
Did You Make This Recipe?
If you’ve tried this recipe, please let leave a review in the comments below. I love hearing from you! Don’t forget to tag me – @sugarandsoulco – on Instagram and Pinterest with your photos, or join our Sugar & Soul Show-offs Community and share them there.
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
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