Chocolate Cupcakes with a "deconstructed" peanut butter ball filling and peanut butter frosting

One of my favorite nostalgic childhood treats is the peanut butter ball. I was originally planning to bake a peanut butter ball inside a chocolate cupcake, but I ended up creating this "deconstructed" filling instead.

It turns out that baking a peanut butter ball inside of a cupcake has already been done and when I saw the picture of how one recipe turned out, I observed that when baked inside a cupcake, the peanut butter ball seemed kind of isolated in the cake, rather than more disbursed throughout the cake and imbuing the whole thing with flavor.

These turned out pretty irresistibly good. Even Mr. Pixie Crust, who is not the biggest fan of dessert or sweets, thoroughly enjoyed them.

For the Cupcakes:
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake Recipe
Yields 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup boiling water

Sift the flour and set aside. Whip the butter in an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment until creamy. Add the brown sugar to the butter and mix for 2-3 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time. Continue mixing until light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla extract and melted baking chocolate. Mix in the baking soda last.

Add the flour in batches, alternating with sour cream. Mix on medium until well combined- do not over mix!

Lastly, remove the bowl from the mixer stand. Add in the boiling water and hand stir until combined.

Bake for 25-35 minutes, until cake springs back to the touch and/or an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

For the "deconstructed" Peanut Butter Ball filling:
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups natural peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 cups Cocoa Krispies cereal
2-3 tbsp milk

Put Cocoa Krispies and powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Set aside. Melt peanut butter and butter over stove pot in pan. When the mixture is completely melted, pour over powdered sugar and cereal. Stir in milk and continue stirring until ingredients are evenly disbursed. Place bowl in fridge or freezer to cool and thicken.

For the chocolate ganache topping (to pipe on top of the peanut butter ball filling):
Ingredients
6 oz dark belgium chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp butter

Heat cream in pan over stove top until bubbly. Turn off heat and add chocolate, continually stirring until chocolate is fully melted. Add in butter last. Put in fridge to cool.

For the peanut butter frosting:
Ingredients
1 stick butter (room temperature)
1 cup peanut butter
2 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whip butter and peanut butter together in stand mixer using paddle attachment until well combined and creamy. Slowly add in powdered sugar and milk. Beat until light and fluffy.

To assemble the cupcakes

Once cupcakes are completely cool, core out the center of each with a paring knife.
Tip: If you refrigerate the cupcakes or pop them in the freezer for 15 minutes, they won't get as crumbly when the core is removed).

Spoon peanut butter ball filling into core of each cupcake. Add ganache topping on the top of each cupcake "hole." Lastly, pipe peanut butter frosting on the top of each cupcake and decorate as desired.