I was supposed to do real life things today, you know; grown-up things, such as updating my website, doing some graphic design work, etc. I also should have finished some D.I.Y. project type things I started days/weeks ago.

Instead… I made cupcakes. :/

Well… I did do some cleaning too, and caught up on some e·mails. And watched ‘American Idol‘ (its my guilty pleasure, what can I say). But really I accomplished NOTHING I should have today, or tonight. *sigh* So now tomorrow I have a million things to do because Friday I’m spending the day with Jay and won’t be able to do them. *sigh again*

Anyway back to the culprit cupcakes that distracted me from my life. These are a new recipe I never tried before. They were good. I quite enjoyed them. Perhaps you will too? (**Please note my, er, notations at the bottom of the recipe for why I titled these ‘mess-ups’…)

DOUBLE DARK CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH PEANUT BUTTER FILLING

MAKES 24 CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
• ½ cup boiling water
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ sticks plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and position 2 racks in the lower and middle third of the oven. Line 24 muffin cups with paper or foil liners.
2. Put the cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl. Add the boiling water and whisk until a smooth paste forms. Whisk in the buttermilk until combined. In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat 1 ½ sticks of the butter with the granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla, then beat in the dry ingredients in 2 batches, alternating with the cocoa mixture. Carefully spoon the cupcake batter into the lined muffin cups, filling them about two-thirds full. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the cupcakes are springy. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.
3. In a medium bowl, beat the peanut butter with the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter until creamy. Sift the confectioners’ sugar into the bowl and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Spoon all but 3 tablespoons of the peanut butter filling into a pastry bag fitted with a ¼-inch star tip. Holding a cupcake in your hand, plunge the tip into the top of the cake, pushing it about ¾ inch deep. Gently squeeze the pastry bag to fill the cupcake, withdrawing it slowly as you squeeze; you will feel the cupcake expand slightly as you fill it. Scrape any filling from the top of the cupcake and repeat until all of the cupcakes are filled.
4. In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a simmer. Off the heat, add the semisweet chocolate to the cream and let stand for 5 minutes, then whisk the melted chocolate into the cream until smooth. Let the chocolate icing stand until slightly cooled and thickened, about 15 minutes. Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the icing, letting the excess drip back into the pan. Transfer the cupcakes to racks and let stand for 5 minutes. Dip the tops of the cupcakes again and transfer them to racks. Spoon the remaining 3 tablespoons of peanut butter filling into the pastry bag and pipe tiny rosettes on the tops of the cupcakes.

Tip: If you don’’t have a pastry bag with a fitted tip, you can fill these cupcakes by carving a hole in the center (from the top) with a sharp paring knife. Put the filling in a resealable plastic bag and snip off one of the corners. Pipe the filling directly into the hole.

Now once again, I cheated. I did not use the filling recipe that comes with this recipe. I used peanut butter buttercream I already had. I also did not use the melted chocolate recipe that comes with it, I used more left over ganache. Oh well. Slap my wrist and call me shifty.

I also, to add a stripey effect to the frosting, painted a few brown food-coloring paste stripes on the inside of the bag before filling it. Makes it more dimensional, and interesting. What can I say, I’m an artist, that crap just comes naturally. You can’t see it well in the pictures. Or at all, really. *ahem* Poo.

I should also state… seeing as how I did admit that I messed up… that I effed up sorta big-time on the baking powder/baking soda. I added more of one than I should’ve (American Idol was on! I was distracted!) I managed to do a ghetto baking powder dig-out thing but I was sure that they were done for. So.. I was expecting these to be shit-worthy. But they were NOT. I’m awesome. They just fall apart kinda easy. But they taste deelish.

I have an overwhelming urge to watch ‘Mary Poppins‘ right now (which I do not have on DVD, by the way… well I do have it technically but its on VHS and it was taped off of TV when I was like 7). If only I knew why..?

(That one I didn’t dip in the melted chocolate, I just devoured it, tehe)