Peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate frosting!

Back in January it was my other half's birthday. He doesn't really like to make a fuss about it, so he makes it quite difficult for me to orchestrate any grandiose gestures in celebration of his special day. He doesn't like parties, or crowds, or expensive presents... but he does like my cakes. And he does have a certain penchant for Reese's Cups, so when I saw the recipe for peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate frosting in my Primrose Bakery recipe book, I knew I'd found my perfect present.

As we had two of our very good friends coming to stay for the weekend, (who also happen to be a fan of the miraculous peanut butter/chocolate combination) I made a dozen. And boy, did they go down a treat.

Here's one of the few pics I snapped before they were devoured!

The recipe called for smooth peanut butter, but I've always preferred the crunchy stuff, so I decided to use that instead. It actually turns out that this gives them a lovely muffiny texture, with the odd delightful little crunch of peanut butter here and there. The chocolate frosting was a bit of a nightmare, I'll be honest. I think I overcooked the chocolate somehow, or used the wrong kind of chocolate? I asked the aforementioned other half to pick me up a bar of decent chocolate at the shop on the way home from work... he brought home Dairy Milk. Normally I would applaud his selection as I love Cadbury's chocolate, but in this instance I think a 70% cocoa solid chocolate might have been better suited. Anyway, the frosting came out a bit sticky and greasy, which made it very difficult to spread. It was absolutely delicious though, so I will experiment more with it in the future.

Kudos goes to the Primrose Bakery for such a tasty recipe, once again :)