Email to Kim Shook      

Jelly-Filled Cupcakes W/ Peanut Butter

Source of Recipe

Tyler Florence


Recipe Introduction

For the second time, I was REALLY dissatisfied with these cupcakes. The cakes turned out so tough and dense and heavy. I don't know if it's me or the recipe (the first time I made them, they turned out fine, so probably me), but I think that I need to find a good yellow cupcake recipe to use here. The technique and the frosting are great, but I ended up tossing the cupcakes and using a mix because I was pressed for time. These are amazing cupcakes! Everyone who tries them just moans! The frosting is a buttercream type and I think that I would like to experiment with a thinner, less fluffy icing sometime. I didn't find it easy to pump 1 T. of jelly into each cupcake. I think that a piping bag with a fairly large decorating tip might work better than the squirt bottle that he suggests. I didn't bother with the candy topping - I think that would be a bit too rich! The frosting recipe made WAY too much for me. I think you could easily cut it in half and have plenty. I piped it one with a fancy tip to look pretty (SO much easier than laboriously spreading, too!). UPDATE: I did this with angel food cupcakes for Trina and Adam's wedding rehearsal dinner in September 2010. The angel food cake was very nice and suited the recipe. I cooked them ahead of time and froze them. I filled them the night before and frosted the day of the dinner. One batch of frosting was enough for 3 dozen cupcakes - I made a double batch and had lots of leftover frosting.

List of Ingredients

CUPCAKES:
11/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1 cup grape jelly (Recommended: Welch's Grape Jelly)
Candy bars (Recommended: Reese's Pieces, Butterfinger, Nutterbutter, Heath Bar, smashed up with a rolling pin, for decorating)
FROSTING:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon milk


Recipe

CUPCAKES:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a cupcake pan with paper liners, gently spray the liners with nonstick spray and set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt over a large piece of paper. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, the egg yolk, and the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Pour in the milk and continue to mix until smooth. Pick up the paper with the dry ingredients and gradually pour it into the wet ingredients, continue to mix just until blended.

Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared cupcake tins, about 3/4 full. Bake until the tops of the cupcakes spring back to the touch and are not too golden; about 20 minutes. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, and then allow to cool completely on a wire rack before filling, frosting or decorating.

Fill a squirt bottle with the grape jelly and screw on the cap. Carefully insert the tip of the squirt bottle as far as it will go into the top of the cupcakes. Gently squeeze about 1 tablespoon worth of jelly inside of each. Ice the tops of the cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting to cover. Decorate with your favorite candy.

PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING:
Beat the butter, peanut butter, and cream cheese with a hand or standing mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Slowly add the confectioner's sugar and continue to mix until the frosting is smooth, mix in the milk and continue to mix until it reaches a good spreading consistancy.

Makes 12 cupcakes.