That title is just a fancy way of saying peanut butter cupcakes. If you love peanut butter, these are the cupcakes for you. This is a peanut butter cake with some chocolate thrown into the middle and a peanut butter frosting. Think inside out peanut butter cup. If you aren't from the South or you're apparently uneducated on various forms of candy/fudge (like me) and have never heard of penuche, it's a peanut fudge candy (yes, I had to Wikipedia it because I had zero clue...and I still don't know how to pronounce it).

This penuche frosting is good...it tastes like peanut butter caramel fudge. Winner in my book! Although, next time I would pair the cupcake with a chocolate frosting for a better contrast in flavors. I would do this cake with chocolate frosting and this frosting with a chocolate cake. Hmmm...so many options...must start baking. The cake is nice and moist and has a tender crumb. It must have been good because I ate an entire cupcake while I was taking pictures. Literally--the camera was in my right hand and the cupcake was being devoured while in my left hand. I guess that's one good thing about having a crappy point and shoot camera! 

Jen of Sweet Morris picked this recipe for this week's Project Pastry Queen, and it came along at a great time. I was just thinking that I needed to post another cupcake recipe on here. My recipe is for high altitude, so check out Jen's blog for the regular recipe if you live pretty much anywhere else in the world. Ah, the joys of living at a mile high. The recipe says it makes 12 cupcakes, but I got 18 out of it. It also calls for a bittersweet chocolate bar cut into pieces, but I was all out so I used semisweet chocolate chips. I also added an extra 1/2 cup of powdered sugar to my frosting because I wanted it to be thicker. These changes are noted in my recipe below. Also, check out Project Pastry Queen to see everyone else's take on these delicious peanut butter cupcakes.  

Peanut Butter Cupcakes at High Altitude
Makes 18 cupcakes
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For the Cake:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup + 2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup bittersweeet or semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 18 muffin cups with liners and set aside. Using a mixer with the paddle attachment (or a hand mixer), combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Mix until incorporated. Add the butter, peanut butter, milk, and vanilla and mix until combined. Add in vanilla and eggs one at a time until well incorporated. Fill the cupcake liners 1/3 of the way with the batter. Add in a few chocolate chips (about 10-12) and top with more batter until the cups are 2/3 filled. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes and cool at least 5 additional minutes before frosting

For the Frosting:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup milk
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, peanut butter, milk, brown sugar, and salt. Stir to combine, bring to a low boil, and let it boil for 1.5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and let sit for 30 minutes (but not longer). After 30 minutes, stir in the vanilla and powdered sugar, pour into a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and mix on medium speed until smooth and creamy. This will take a couple of minutes. At this point, I put the frosting in a piping bag and placed it in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes until it was cool. This helped it to stiffen so it would keep its shape when I piped it on the cupcakes.

What could be better than Bailey's in a cupcake with a Bailey's chocolate truffle frosting? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Trust me on this one. This is the perfect adult cupcake, and you should make it for St. Patrick's Day and every other day when you need a kick. I had to remind myself to not taste the cupcake batter too much, because you definitely could get a buzz from that batter. The frosting will harden after it is piped or spread on the cupcakes, so the best way to eat these is to warm them slightly in the microwave for a few seconds until the frosting is a little softer. They're still very delicious without heating them up though.

This cupcake recipe is adapted for high altitude, and this is my go-to vanilla cupcake recipe, just slightly adapted. The addition of the vanilla pudding mix helps to keep them moist, a problem I have at my altitude. I have included the recipes for both low and high altitude, so make sure you're following the correct one! I've never made the low-altitude recipe at sea level, so I'm assuming it works based on where I found it and the comments that were made on that blog. The original recipe makes 24 cupcakes, but I rarely need that many, so I halved it.

High-Altitude Bailey's Cupcakes (5280 feet)
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Makes 12-14 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter
1 cup minus 3 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs plus 1 egg white
1/2 cup Bailey’s Irish cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup instant vanilla pudding mix

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and instant vanilla pudding mix and set aside. In the bowl of your mixer, cream the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Combine the buttermilk and Irish cream. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and liquids in two additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix on low until incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix for another 10-15 seconds. Divide the batter into the prepared muffin liners. You want to fill each liner about 2/3 full.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes and then remove to wire racks to cool completely before frosting.  
 
Low-Altitude Bailey's Cupcakes
Print this recipe
Makes 12-14 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs plus 1 egg white
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon Bailey's Irish cream
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk 

Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Combine the buttermilk and Irish cream. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and liquids in two additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix on low until incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix for another 10-15 seconds. Divide the batter into the prepared muffin liners. You want to fill each liner about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes and then remove to wire racks to cool completely before frosting.

Bailey's Truffle Frosting
Makes enough for at least 12 cupcakes

8 oz good semisweet chocolate (I used E. Guittard)
1/2 cup Bailey’s Irish cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter

In a saucepan, mix together the Irish cream, sugar, and corn syrup. Heat over medium until sugar has dissolved and mixture is very hot. Pour over chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes, giving the chocolate time to melt. Stir until chocolate has melted, add the butter, and stir until melted. If the chocolate won't fully melt, you can heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Let the frosting sit for about 10-20 minutes, stirring periodically. It will firm up as it cools. If it hardens too much, simply reheat for about 10 seconds until it's spreadable again. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.
 
Source: Cupcakes adapted from Annie's Eats, who adapted it from Confections of a Foodie Bride. Frosting is a She Makes and Bakes creation.