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

1. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine all of the cupcake ingredients in a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
3. Fill each liner about 3/4 full with cupcake batter. Next, reduce the heat to 350 degrees F.
4. 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.
5. Prepare the peanut butter flavored frosting while the cupcakes cool by first creaming the butters together.
6. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, alternating with tablespoons of heavy cream.
7. Stir in the vanilla extract then whip on medium-high speed until frosting is light and fluffy.
8. Core the cupcakes using a cupcake corer and fill the holes with mini Reese’s Pieces.
9. 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.