Martha Stewart's Peanut Butter Jelly Cupcake

If you've always loved a good peanut butter jelly sandwich and if you are not averse to a luxuriously rich buttery cake, I suggest you bookmark this and bake it at the first opportunity you have. This cupcake is gloriously addictive and beats Magnolia Bakery's Cupcake hands down effortlessly!

So far, I've had pretty good results with the recipes from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. I only wish I have the time to bake every single one of them. (See here , here and here for the recipes I have tried...)
The recipes are in general not too sweet though I normally still try to tune down the amount of sugar used. I like it that Martha Stewart's book features a good collection of more adult and classic cupcake flavours and design.


This cupcake is moist and delicious enough to eat on its own. The incorporation of coarsely chopped roasted salted peanuts adds lovely texture to every bite but the creamy peanut butter frosting is one icing on the cake that takes you to the realm of cake-bliss. I would gladly lick the frosting from a spoon.

However, be warned, the deliciousness is the result of copious use of sour cream, thick cream,cream cheese and of course, creamy peanut butter! However, your inhibition gets lost at first bite. So enjoy and worry later!

I am  submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min's Blog. Please do take time to check out the event here. 



Recipe : (Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcake with minor adjustment)

1 3/4 cups              all purpose flour
1/4 tsp                    baking soda
3/4 tsp                    baking powder
1/2 tsp                    salt
3/4 cup /136g         unsalted butter
1 cup                      sugar
2/3 cup                   creamy peanut butter (I used 100g)
3                             large eggs
1/2 tsp                    vanilla extract
1/2 cup                   sour cream
3/4 cup                   coarsely chopped roasted salted peanuts
Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting
1/2 cup                    strawberry jelly or jam

Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting
6oz (170g)              Cream cheese @ room temperature
1/3 cup (40g)          Confectioner's / icing sugar
1 cup (200g)           Creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp                     Vanilla extract
1/2 cup                    Heavy cream (whipping type)

Method :
Cupcake 
1. Preheat oven to 190C (375C). Line standard muffin tin with paper liners. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

2. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Mix in peanut butter, add eggs one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
Mix in vanilla extract. Add flour mixture gradually and mix well to incorporate. Mix in sour cream and peanuts.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake at 190C for 20 min until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean.

4. Cool down cupcake completely and frost with creamy peanut butter frosting. Leave a small well in the middle of the cupcake. Add a dollop of strawberry jam into each well.

Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting

1. Cream cream cheese and sugar together until pale and fluffy.

2. Add peanut butter and vanilla extract and mix until well blended.

3. In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream until medium / stiff peaks are formed.

4. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

Martha Stewart's Easy Easter Cupcakes - A Peter Rabbit Treat

When I went to the National Library to search for these Peter Rabbit books for the photos, the librarian had told me to look under 'books for babies'. Lucky babies! How fortunate to be growing up with beautiful wholesome illustrations like these. I didn't get to know about the Peter Rabbit series until I was in my twenties. The only books I can remember growing up with during my pre-school years were a couple of big paper back picture books with titles like : Three Little Pigs and Puss In Boots.

When I eventually went to primary school, my reading material were 50cents weekly monochromatic periodicals. My parents would take us to the bookshops during school holidays where we stock up on story books and stationery... Even then, we would only be allowed to buy books that were 'cheap and good'. Hence, I ended up reading the whole collection of Oxford Classic series because they only cost $1 each... while my friends would be showing off their $5 Enid Blytons and Nancy Drews...The good thing that came out of this 'crunch' was that by the time I moved on to Secondary One (equivalent to junior high?), I had already finished reading titles like Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Little Women, Wuthering Heights and The Hound of Baskervilles. Hence when we were assigned to read Little Women for our literature class, I had already known the book inside out...:)
I have never griped about not having what my classmates had. In fact, in retrospect, I am really thankful for the foundation those experiences from the early years had provided me.

Today? Books are still a big part of my life. I still have a full wall of bookshelf...albeit the cookbooks are quickly edging all other books out of the shelves..but no worries, I have just bought myself my first Kindle E-reader last month when I was in US and am thrilled to bits with it.

Apart from the E-reader, I also managed to get my hands on these Peter Rabbit Cupcake Kit from Williams Sonoma. Very appropriate for the Easter Holiday. Sigh, why are pretty things like these never available in this part of the world?

To celebrate Easter, I have chosen to make Martha Stewart's Carrot Cupcake with a Tangy Cream Cheese frosting. I am beginning to really enjoy Martha Stewart's Cupcake cookbook. The last time I worked with a recipe from the book was for the Ginger Bread Cupcake  - the texture and flavours of which I had totally enjoyed.
This Carrot Cupcake is equally wonderful. Totally easy to make, the recipe contains loads of shredded carrot which gives it a very moist and fine crumbed finish. Perfect for children (and adults, like myself) who do not like carrots! The addition of yellow raisins lends another delightful burst of natural sweetness and sunshine to every mouthful.

If you are considering to bake something for Easter, I would strongly recommend this!


Recipe (Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book)
Cupcake
1 pound               carrots, peeled and finely grated
3                          large eggs
1/3 cup                buttermilk (I used full cream milk)
2 cups                 sugar (I used 1.5 cups)
1.5 tsp                vanilla extract
1/2 cup               golden raisins
3 cups                all purpose flour
1 tsp                   baking soda
2 tsp                   baking powder
1tsp                    salt
1 tsp                   ground cinnamon
1 tsp                   ground ginger (I omitted the ginger and cloves because I am concerned about how the
1/8 tsp                ground cloves   my neighbour's 4 year old kid would take to the spices)

Cream Cheese Frosting
225g                  Butter
340g                  Cream Cheese
4 cups                Confectioner's sugar (sifted)
3/4 tsp               Vanilla extract

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 160C.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk together carrot, eggs, buttermilk, sugar,oil, vanilla extract and raisins.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour,baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir flour mixture into accort mixture until well combined.
4. Divide batter among lined cups. Fill each liner to 3/4 full.
5. Bake at 160C for 25mins until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Frosting
1. Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Lower mixing speed and add in powder suger.
2. Add vanilla extract and mix well. Refrigerate if frosting becomes too soft to pipe.

Assembly
1. Place frosting in a piping bag fittled with a large round tip. Pipe swirl onto cupcake and decorate with Peter Rabbit pick.