I had tried out the pb&j cakes a few months back, that's actually what the picture at the top of the blog is. They were so good, and pretty much exactly what I'd hoped for. My brother told me it was the best cupcake he'd ever had, so I'd say they turned out well.
The first time I tried th
em out I just used a boxed yellow cake mix, but I made the cake from scratch this time. Yellow cake is my favorite. It's so simple, but so delicious. I always like to add a little cinnamon in my yellow cake too, mmmm... The batter was a little whiter than I expected, but it was still pretty. It was kind of a relaxing color, as weird as it sounds... maybe it had something to do with the smell too, who knows?I also did the filling a little differently this time. Before I kind of injected the jelly into the cupcake with a piping bag and a sharp tip, after the cake was baked. I thought I would try a different technique this time, and I put the jelly in with the batter
before baking. It was easier this way, but the jelly ended up sort of sinking to the bottom while baking, so I might go back to the injection method next time. I don't think it really affected the taste, or the whole pbj experience, but I'd prefer for the jelly to be more in the middle of my cupcake. I think either way is fine, though.They baked up very nicely, but the recipe I used takes a little longer to bake than most, about 30 minutes. Personally I find 30 minutes a LONG time to wait for cupcakes, but I'm impatient, and really like to eat them. It's probably not that big of a deal for normal people. Haha. Anyway, they came out nice and pretty and golden-y brown, and YUMMY.
Mmm, I can practically smell them... Now, onto the frosting! This is where the peanut butter part comes in, in case you were wondering. Ok, I'm not gonna lie, I don't have a set recipe for this frosting, and the first batch I tried making this time was a big time FAIL. When I made it a few months back I put a little butter in, along with the peanut butter, sugar, and milk, and it turned out perfectly fine. I didn't have anymore butter this time, so I thought I'd put in a little margarine, instead. Um, yeah... DON'T DO THAT. It was a big ol' clumpy, super oily, gross mess. Yeah, I mean, really, don't do it. Luckily when I started out this time, I had a full, unopened jar of peanut butter, and I used about half for the screw-up "frosting." Totally lame that I wasted a half jar of peanut butter, but hey, I learned a lesson.Second try... *crosses fingers* PHEW! It turned out absolutely beautiful and perfect
, not to mention super tasty. I just used about a cup of creamy peanut butter, a little vanilla, powdered sugar, and a little soy milk. I didn't have any regular milk, I just don't use it that often, but the soy milk worked out great. And I could breath again, so that was also a plus. The color was really nice too, kind of a light,
butterscotch-ish color. Mmmm... butterscotch... Sorry, that's for another time. The frosted cupcakes turned out so nice and pretty, and swirly and smooth. Yum.Ok one last step, I swear. Now obviously, chocolate and peanut butter go together like, well, peanut butter and jelly... But chocolate and jelly-some folks might not be so sure. Well I'm here to assure you the pb, chocolate, and jelly three-way combo of deliciousness is just that. Deeeelicious. I melted about a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave, and drizzled it ov
er the top of the cupcakes with a toothpick. Man-oh-man, was it good.Are you ready for it, the finished project? I sure was. I was really happy with the result, and the chocolate wasn't overpowering, like you might be worried about. It was just right. I was told, today, that t
he cupcake tasted like a candy bar, and I am totally ok with that. I'm definitely going to have to make these again. Thank goodness for pb&j!
