If you're a fan of chocolate and peanut butter together you will LOVE these devil's food cupcakes! They're rich, chocolatey, and incredibly moist topped with a creamy peanut butter frosting!
Adjust your oven rack to the 2nd level mark (just above center) and preheat your oven to 375ºF. Line 2 cupcake tins with cupcake liners and set to the side.
In a small microwaveable bowl, melt the dark chocolate in 30-45 second increments at 50% power until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Set to the side to cool slightly.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, dutch process cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder. Set to the side.
1 ½ cup All-Purpose Flour, ½ cup Dutch Process Cocoa Powder, 1 teaspoon Baking Soda, ½ teaspoon Baking Powder, ¼ teaspoon Salt, 2 teaspoon Espresso Powder
Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the vegetable oil, light brown sugar, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract on medium-high speed until well blended.
½ cup Vegetable Oil, 1 ½ cup Light Brown Sugar, 2 Large Eggs, ½ cup Sour Cream, 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Reduce the mixer speed to low, gradually adding in the whisked dry ingredients, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed.
Keeping the mixer speed on low, carefully add in the melted chocolate, then the boiling water mixing until just combined. The devil's food cupcake batter will be on the thin and runny side.
1 cup Boiling Water, 4 oz Dark Chocolate
Using a 3 tablespoon-size cookie scoop, carefully fill the cupcake liners approximately half way full.
Place the 2 cupcake tins side-by-side in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes at 375ºF or until the top of the cupcake springs back when gently pressed.
Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
The cupcakes should be cool to the touch before adding the peanut butter frosting. You can make these up to 2 nights in advance, keeping them stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
Peanut Butter Frosting
Using your hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the unsalted butter until soft and creamy. Add in the peanut butter and beat together until well blended.
1 cup Unsalted Butter, 1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
Reduce the mixer speed to low, gradually adding in the sifted powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream, salt, and vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3 ½ cups Sifted Powdered Sugar, 3 tablespoon Heavy Whipping Cream, ¼ teaspoon Salt, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Frost cupcakes using a decorative piping tip or with an offset spatula.
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Notes
Cookie Scoop. For this recipe, I used a 3 tablespoon sized scoop and filled up the liners approximately ¾ full.
Cupcake Liners. I used Wilton's standard size cupcake liners for this devil's food cupcakes recipe, but you can also use the Wilton 24-pack Wave Cupcake Liners in black. Using the wave liners will yields more upcakes.
Decorating Tip. Piping the frosting onto the cupcakes is totally optional, but for reference I used the Wilton 2A tip.
I kept these devil's food cupcakes with peanut butter frosting simple, but you can add a garnish like crushed peanuts, mini reese's peanut butter cups, or drizzle on some chocolate syrup.