Double Stuff Oreo Brownie Cupcakes & Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Cupcakes

So this week was National cupcake week back in the U.K! I obviously missed it but I did manage to try out some of my first cupcakes here in Vancouver which was exciting! but for now I'll leave you with some cupcakes I made back in the summer, a double whammy of Oreo Brownie Cupcakes and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Cupcakes!



because let's face it, brownie cupcakes are hands down some of my favourite cupcakes to bake and eat, and everything is better with Oreo's and Reese's - it's just a fact! 

which is why when I saw this in my ice cream aisle at my local Wal Mart this week my heart skipped a beat! you can read about my full Wal Mart experience here! (p.s how much do I love using the phrase 'local Wal Mart'!! haha)

It's no surprise that Oreos are one of the most baked with ingredients on my blog! (although they are slightly being overtaken by coconut as it stands right now!) You just can't beat an Oreo cupcake and so often when I get requested to bake cupcakes for people Oreo flavour is the first one that springs to mind!

The Oreo Brownie cupcake is a fave combo of mine and so when a friend requested some welcome home cupcakes for his daughter who had been in Canada I decided spicing up my brownie cupcakes with Oreos and Peanut Butter Cups would be fun...and I threw in some obligatory Union Jack cupcake cases to help welcome her back to the UK!

and when you're starting with either a Double Stuff Oreo or a Reese's Peanut Butter cup at the bottom of your cupcake, you know it's only going to get better from there! 

In fact you could probably even eat that whole tray of deliciousness without it ever reaching the oven if you wanted to! 

Let's break down each cupcake individually.  The Oreo masterpiece was a Double Stuff Oreo at the bottom, covered with a rich chocolate brownie batter with crushed Oreos inside, frosted with Oreo cream cheese frosting, and a sprinkling of crushed Oreo crumbs topped off with a mini Oreo! Phew...that's alot of Oreo going on in there! 

For the Reese's masterpiece, each cupcake begins with a mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cup which gets baked into a peanut butter infused brownie batter, and then topped with thick and creamy peanut butter frosting, a sprinkling of Reese's Pieces and topped off with half a mini Peanut Butter Cup! 

Pure utter tastiness! on both accounts (yes I made extra so I could indulge in them too!)

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Cupcakes:

Makes 12

Adapted from Martha's Brownie Cupcakes

12 mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

225g dark chocolate

113g unsalted butter, at room temperature

185g caster sugar

3/4 tsp salt

3 large eggs

70g plain flour

25g cocoa powder

100g smooth peanut butter

Frost with the peanut butter frosting, no.6, from my Top 10 Frostings post.

Double Stuff Oreo Brownie Cupcakes:

Makes 12

Adapted from Martha's Brownie Cupcakes

12 Double Stuff Oreos

225g dark chocolate

113g unsalted butter, at room temperature

185g caster sugar

3/4 tsp salt

3 large eggs

70g plain flour

25g cocoa powder

100g crushed Oreos

Frost with the oreo cream cheese frosting, no.2, from my Top 10 Frostings post.

To make the brownie cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set above a pan of simmering water.  Stir occasionally until just melted, about 4-5 mins.
Remove bowl from heat and whisk in the sugar and salt until the mixture is smooth,  whisk in the eggs to combine.  
Gently whisk in flour and cocoa until just smooth (do not overmix).  If you are making the Reese's one, this is the point you would stir in the peanut butter, if you are making the Oreo ones then stir in the crushed oreos.

Put a half a Double Stuff Oreo or a whole mini Reese's peanut butter cup in the bottom of your cupcake cases.  Top up with 3/4 brownie batter.  Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, about 25-30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Oreo Pretzel Brownies

It's hard to believe that I'm a recent convert to peanut butter! but in true Gem style once I'm into something I usually take it a little overboard (moderation is not really my style!) So these brownies have three peanut butter components to them:

1 - the peanut butter Oreos that are sandwiched between the brownie (and that were gifted to me by my husband on my birthday! Luckily we got sent 2 packs by mistake so we have been enjoying them for weeks now!)

2 - the peanut butter frosting

3 - the double dipped peanut butter and chocolate covered pretzels for decoration...

and not only for decoration but I added them on top of the brownie for serious tastiness to take these brownies over the edge! Let's just go back and revisit that description for a moment - double dipped peanut butter and chocolate covered pretzels! that's right, they are a pretzel smothered in peanut butter and if that wasn't good enough they are then finished off with a generous coating of chocolate! 

These brownies were lucky that there were any pretzels left for decoration by the time the end of the baking session came, because I'd been snacking on the whole bag throughout! American Soda sent me these amazingly tasty Flipz pretzels and before then I had only come across the regular milk and white chocolate covered pretzels before so these were like a revelation to me! an amazingly tasty revelation! I urge any pretzel lovers to give these a try...they will make your day - and make you want to add them to the next tasty treat you make! 

Trust me, these were so delicious that the brownies didn't even make it to the photography stage pre eating.  The smell that spread throughout the house was so peanut butter-y and delish that as soon as I'd slathered the frosting on top (and yes, we couldn't wait so the brownies were still slightly warm and the frosting became a melting runny mess!) everyone had made their way into the kitchen to claim their piece! So I managed to save back one piece to photograph later that evening once our peanut butter fest had subsided! 

Peanut Butter Oreo Pretzel Brownies:

Makes 15

Adapted from My Baking Addiction

113g dark chocolate; coarsely chopped

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups caster sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup plain flour

15 Peanut Butter Oreo's

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line an 11x7" baking pan with tin foil and grease with butter.

Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwaveable safe bowl at medium power for 3-4 minutes, or in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water until butter is melted.

Stir until chocolate is melted,  Whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt.  Gradually add in flour and stir until just combined.  

Spread half the batter into the prepared pan.  Add an even layer of Peanut Butter Oreo's and cover with remaining 1/2 of the brownie batter.  Bake for 30-35 minutes (do not over bake). 

Leave to cool in pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Frosting:

From Sweet Tooth

2 cups icing sugar

1/4 cup semi-skimmed milk

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend everything together until smooth.  If you require a thicker consistency add more sugar, or if you want it thinner add more milk.

To decorate:

15 double dipped peanut butter and chocolate pretzels

Frost the brownies generously.  Cut into 15 portions (that's how many I got from my brownie pan) and stick a cute little pretzel on top of each individual brownie.

Serve with generous scoops of vanilla ice cream and don't think about the calories! 

Disclosure: American Soda provided me with these complimentary products.  However my participation was voluntary, and all opinions and views expressed are my own.

Christmas Bauble Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

I was recently lucky enough to be able to order two different long coveted baking goods from The Stateside Candy Co.  One was some Guittard mint baking chips and the other was these awesome festive mini Reese's peanut butter cups (that's right my American readers - us deprived bakers in England cannot find either of those products on our supermarket shelves!) and I felt because it was Christmas I was more than justified to buy overpriced delights like these.

I also knew I wanted to create some bauble (Christmas ornament) cupcakes and that these Reese's cups would be the perfect decorating aid for the Christmas Market Stall these cupcakes made their debut at.

These were my favourite of the whole day.  The brownie and peanut butter combo is pretty unbeatable, but I also loved the fun decoration too.  They were rather time consuming, especially when I started off making the zig zag patterns out of individual jimmies.  I realised it was going to be an even longer night than expected if I carried on like that so I moved on to making a fairly easy row of sprinkles and sugar pearls in the middle of the bauble with some zig zag patterns being more easily formed by melted chocolate either side of them.

Brownie Cupcakes:

Makes 12 regular and 24 mini's

From: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

450g milk chocolate

1 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)

2 cups caster sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

6 large eggs

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup sifted cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.  

Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  Stir occasionally until just melted, about 4-5 mins.

Remove bowl from heat.  Whisk in sugar and salt until mixture is smooth, whisk in eggs to combine.  Gently whisk in flour and cocoa just until smooth (do not overmix).

Fill cupcake cases until 3/4 full.  Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until a cake tester inserted halfway in centres, comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached about 25-30 minutes (and 12-15 minutes for the mini's).

Peanut Butter Frosting:

Makes enough to frost the above

From: Sweet Tooth

4 cups icing Sugar

1/2 cup semi-skimmed milk

1/2 cup unsalted organic unsalted butter

1 cup smooth organic peanut butter

2 tsp vanilla

Blend together the sugar, milk, butter and peanut butter until smooth.  If you require a thicker consistency add more sugar, if you need it to be thinner add more milk. 

To Assemble:

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop up a level scoop of frosting and put it on top of the cupcake.

I used the back of a teaspoon to help smooth it out so that it covered the whole surface of the cake.  I tried to make sure I maintained a 'domed' shape with the mound of frosting.

Place a mini Reese's peanut butter cup at the top of the frosting.

Use sprinkles to create bauble type patterns on the frosting.

Melt some chocolate to pipe on zig zag patterns.

A Christmas Cupcake Stall at Bangor's Christmas Market

Yesterday was Bangor Uni's Christmas Market, which was run by the students.  We got an email a while back asking if anyone was interested in running a stall so I jumped at the chance, not realising the market was the day after I had an essay due in! In hindsight, it wasn't the best timing! but it turned out pretty well in the end considering how little sleep I got (please excuse the bad pictures - the lighting in the hall was terrible!) Also, I am not claiming responsibility for the purple tablecloth or the tinsel - that was all down to the University setting up! but I must thank my mom for sending me the awesome gold and starry tablecloth and serviettes to make my stall a little bit prettier! Most people didn't worry with their stalls but I like things to look fancy! 

Here's a little run down of everything I made, recipes will be following later in the week...

First up, I made some red velvet cupcakes with peppermint frosting.  I made the frosting two tone to co-ordinate with the candy cane toppers.  

The most popular of the day had to be these hot chocolate cupcakes with swiss meringue buttercream.  If you've never had swiss meringue buttercream before (no one seemed to know what it was who visited my stall!) it's a very silky light frosting made from a combination of heated egg whites, butter and sugar.  It's less sweet then regular buttercream and was the perfect accompaniment to the rich chocolate cupcake.  It also pipes on like a dream and as it's so light it helped to create the whipped cream look I was going for.  I dusted some cocoa, sprinkled some marshmallows on and dipped a wafer in melted chocolate just to finish them off! 

One of my favourite combos, especially for Christmas is gingerbread with cream cheese frosting.  I made these cupcakes for the first time two years ago and then last year in the Caribbean I made them with my sister too, so they're definitely becoming a bit of a tradition!

 Homemade gingerbread men as toppers always go down well.  I'm really not a fan of fondant decorations and I believe cupcake toppings should always look good and be delicious.

My favourite cupcakes of the day were these brownie cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.  They are all round a delicious flavour combo but also I was excited to make them so I could turn them into baubles! I ordered the mini Reese's peanut butter cups from one of my favourite websites - The Stateside Candy Co, and I knew as soon as I saw them that they would be perfect for looking like a bauble! 

So I tried my best to mound my frosting into a circular shape and then did a few zig zag patterns over the frosting with melted chocolate.  I put the reese's cup at the top to act as the hanging part of the bauble.  They were time consuming but I think they were worth the effort! As a random side note, I discovered last year whilst in the Caribbean from my American colleagues that they didn't know what a bauble was! Apparently in America they are known simply as Christmas Ornaments so for all my American followers these were my 'Christmas Ornament' cupcakes! 

I also baked 12 mini's of each flavour because these bite sized treats are always popular.

Did you know egg boxes are made for putting mini's in? I like to give them aways as presents in these by decorating the boxes and tying ribbon around them.  I decorated these with some striped Christmas paper and a gift tag...

and put a random assortment of mini's inside - people fell in love with these and all the boxes were snapped up in the first 20 minutes! I must remember to make more for next time around...

I finished with a few treats for those out there who might not be as cupcake crazy as I am! I made some Christmas shaped gingerbread cookies, and these peppermint brownies.  They were chocolate brownies frosted with chocolate-peppermint swiss meringue buttercream and finished off with some chopped up candy canes and a drizzle of mint chocolate .  I made these in the last hour before we had to leave the house as an afterthought, but I was glad I did as they got some of the best compliments of the day! 

I'm off to do my 25th load of washing up...no really! Baking for the masses without a dishwasher is no fun at all! 

An Anniversary Twirl & Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Triple Layer Cake

Last week I celebrated 4 years with my lovely sweet toothed husband! I had done some background research to discover Twirl was his favourite chocolate bar of the moment! So imagine my delight when I spotted these little beauties in my local supermarket.  The idea for the rest of the cake began with these...

and grew into this....

Here's how it all started.  Bake your chocolate cake into 3 separate tins.  Once they are cooled, spread generous amounts of peanut butter frosting on top of each cake.

Smooth it out with a knife.

Crumble your mini Twirl bites to pieces and sprinkle them generously all over the frosting.

Sandwich your layers together.

Once the third layer has been added, side coat with more frosting.

Pour some chocolate fudge into the centre of your cake.  Be ready to guide some of it over the edge and be ready to stop any over enthusiastic drips too! For this you need to make sure your fudge is slightly runny so that it will move around but not so runny that your whole cake gets drenched in fudge! It's a fine balance!

Load up your piping bad with excess peanut butter frosting and pipe little swirls evenly around the edge of the cake. 

Adorn each swirl with a Twirl bite and a cut up Reece's Peanut Butter Cup respectively.  Of course if you get to be lucky enough to live in America you can just adorn with a mini pb cup which would be super cute but I didn't have that option!

Then I cheated slightly by making the disc on top at work, but I could have had one of the professionals who pipe discs all day long to pipe  my message and I chose not to.  I wanted it to be a labour of love, higgledy piggledy letter piping and all - that is something I definitely have to work on!

Byron loved it anyway! and we enjoyed more than several slices of it on our anniversary staycation in between all the other crazy amounts of treats we consumed!

So if you're looking for a rather delicious combo of creamy peanut butter and fudgy chocolate with a bit of flaked chocolate thrown in then this is the cake for you!

Here is the recipe for the chocolate cake part taken from my United Cakes of America book.

I used a double batch of my peanut butter frosting that goes like this:

2 cups Icing Sugar

1/4 cup semi-skimmed milk

1/4 cup unsalted organic unsalted butter

1/2 cup smooth organic peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Blend everything together until smooth. If you require a thicker consistency add more sugar, if you need it to be thinner add more milk.

and finished off with some milk chocolate fudge.  I can't tell you the recipe as it's a secret but I'm sure you can improvise with something you can find off of google!

Happy Baking!

P.S I'm sharing this over at Chef in Trainings blog along with tons of other yummy entries for Tuesday's Talents.  I have been drooling over the root beer float fudge she posted about - how good does that sound!

Chocolate & Peanut Butter M&M Birthday Layer Cake

I do believe this is the first time I've ever baked anything with peanut butter and posted it to my blog! That is because up until very recently I wasn't a peanut butter fan at all, and to be honest I'm still not a 'eat peanut butter out the tub' kind of person but if you throw it into some baked goods then I'm definitely game! I made some peanut butter and chocolate brownies in the Caribbean, we ate them so quick they never even made it to the blog! so here is my first peanut butter entry for all you American and English loving PB fans out there! 

It was my brother-in-law's birthday on Thursday.  I asked him if he had a favourite chocolate bar, his reply was peanut M&M's so I started dreaming up what sort of cake I could bake him. Unfortunately it's been back to work this week so I did something which I've never done before and I bought a cake mix! just because I simply wouldn't have had time to bake one from scratch upon getting home from work and then going out for a meal, which by the way was a very delicious meal at Turtle Bay - a new Caribbean restaurant in Milton Keynes that I can highly recommend! and if you go during Happy Hour you can even enjoy 2-4-1 cocktails or some rather delicious passion fruit 'mocktails' as we did! 

So I baked the Betty Crocker mix, and whipped up some delicious peanut butter frosting which I could not stop eating so not too much made it onto the cake in the end! I decided to go all out with organic ingredients for the frosting to make up for the shame I felt of using a box mix! 

I then crushed up some peanut M&M's to sprinkle in the middle of the cake, which was no easy feat! they were pinging all over my kitchen! much to the delight of our resident dog here who was catching them in his mouth! 

After I frosted the top of the cake, I struggled for a while to think of how to decorate it.  Peanut M&M's are so unevenly shaped that it's hard to arrange them in any sort of pattern without it looking lame, I know - I tried! So I scrapped that idea, refrosted the top of the cake and decided a drizzle of chocolate was the way forward.  I melted some of my chocolate easter egg, yes I still have some - I got SO many! and snipped the end off a ziploc bag and went to town on the top of the cake.  I then whipped up a small amount of vanilla frosting and added some of the melted chocolate to it to make chocolate frosting which I piped on to the cake and finished off with a peanut M&M on top of each swirl! 

and how did it taste I hear you ask? I don't know!!!! is the rather annoying answer.  I made the cake on Thursday evening and the 21 year old birthday boy has been pubbing and clubbing it up every night since, so we haven't seen him and we haven't been able to eat the cake! It's Midday Saturday now and I'm waiting for him to surface so hopefully we can finally get a piece! 

If you want to make this delicious peanut butter frosting here is the recipe:

2 cups Icing Sugar

1/4 cup semi-skimmed milk

1/4 cup unsalted organic unsalted butter

1/2 cup smooth organic peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

1. Blend everything together until smooth.  If you require a thicker consistency add more sugar, if you need it to be thinner add more milk.  Enjoy!