The Story:
I live in a college town where “Dessert Parties” are the activity of choice on a Sunday night. It’s a chance for the ladies to show off their homemaking skills and for the men to indulge in sweets and to flirt with a flock of single coeds. Does it sound a little…bizarre? We know.
Somehow I was in charge of providing 200 cupcake for Sunday’s gathering, and these cupcakes were gone within the first 20 minutes.
Ingredients
Cake:
1 box devil's food cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 C. oil
1 C. buttermilk
1/2 C. sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Frosting:
1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. peanut butter, creamy
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3-4 C. powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp. milk
Peanuts, Caramel and Snickers to decorate
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.
2. Sift cake mix into a small bowl and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine all other cake ingredients until smooth.
4. Stir in cake mix.
5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 17-22 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
6. Frosting: Beat butter and peanut butter for 2 minutes. Scrape down bowl as needed. Add vanilla extract and slowly add powdered sugar until your frosting becomes thick. Add 1 Tbsp of milk, and beat. If needed, all more milk to keep the frosting light and fluffy rather than stiff like cookie dough.
7. Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes and top with salted peanuts, caramel and Snickers.
Copyright © YourCupofCake
Finally you made a cupcake with my favorite candy bar!! Making these tonight!!
Do you mind sharing what kind of caramel you used or how you made it?
It was just store bought from Winco
My mom baked all kinds of wedding cakes and had a couple of tricks for caramel: Boil /simmer a can of sweetened condensed milk (Do not open the can) for about two hours. Let cool for an hour. Then open and enjoy a thick caramel spread.
Any other ingredient I can use to replace the sour cream? I being making almost ALL your recipes Lizzy but now I would like to replace the sour cream on the ingredients list…just wondering what can I use instead. Thanks
Plain Greek yogurt is an awesome sub for sour cream. Much healthier too!
Lizzy- do you have any idea if your recipes will work with Betty Crocker’s Gluten Free cake mixes? I have a friend who’s whole family is Celiac, and I would love to be able to make cupcakes for her birthday this week…
Yes, it should work just fine!
Dessert Parties??? Sounds like a regression to the 1950′s!!! lol! ;o)
Truthfully it sounds like a lot of fun and these look wonderful!
Thanks for the recipe! I just made these today. Can’t wait for the family to try them!
Also, in reply to Fatima…you can substitute plain greek yogurt for sour cream in any recipe.
I made these this morning for a work birthday party, like 7 of us have a birthday between today and the next few weeks! Everyone loved them!! I had to add 3Tbsp of Milk to the frosting though, I only used 3C of powdered sugar, it was very thick until I added the extra milk. They were truly amazing though!
So, I’ve made these cupcakes at least six times in the last two months. They are SO epic. Today I brought them in to work today, and let’s just say I think I know how to ask for my next raise! LOL! Love your cupcakes and all of the stories that go with them. Keep up the wonderful, DELICIOUS work!
Hi Lizzy, I came across your blog through pintrest and I loved it so much that I decided to make the above mentioned cupcake recipe.i have never baked in my whole life, so I was very nervous but today when I started making cupcakes, I found it to be very easy and enjoyable and they turned out great.. Thanks for such simple recipe, a person like me, can also make cupcakes now.i will definitely try other cupcakes recipes.
Maria
Hi there would you be able to tell me what is the ingredients in the cake mix?
As i am from New Zealand and dont think that is accessible here.
Thanks
Do you think I could also put a frozen snickers mini in the middle of the cupcake batter?
Mmm… so good!
Hi Lizzy, can these be made ahead and used the following morning? Thanks.
Oh yes, they definitely can!
Hy Lizzie, your recipe seems really really incredible. But unfortunately, i leave in Morocco, so i think that we don’t have a “box devil’s food cake mix,” can you explain me what is that mean ?
!
And when you wrote for example 1 C. buttermilk, what do you mean by “1 C.” Is it 1 big spoon ..or what ?
Thank you so much Lizzie, i will really happy to give you a moroccan recipes hihihihi
C. stands for Cup. You can just use a replacement chocolate cake recipe and use my buttercream and topping to make these. I am workign on a cake mix substitute recipe, so watch for that in the future
Hello! I am making these cupcakes for my husbands 33rd birthday party, Im so excited to share with his family ! I was curious about frosting the cupcakes though, can I frost them the night before and will they hold up for the party the next day at 3pm? Thanks in advance!
Yes they will hold up just fine! I would wait to drizzle caramel over them until closer to serving them.
I love the way how you use the snickers. I can feel taste of it with the cupcake.
This was the first cupcake recipe i have EVER tried and i can tell you, i was definitely not dissapointed!
I have never had a chocolate cake so moist and though i was skeptical with the peanut butter frosting at first (not a fan of peanut butter!), it was LUSH.
Could you post a cupcake recipe based on a sweet or something? I was thinking of making a cupcake platter based on different candy bars/sweets etc (i will use this, the rolo cupcakes, the m&ms and the butterfinger cupcake recipe).
Thank you!
I do have a bunch of candy bar themed cupcakes up already including the ones you listed and also Take 5 and Heath bars. If you have a specific one in mind you want me to do, email me!
I was wondering (i am not entirely sure myself how these can be put together!), maybe some cupcakes along the lines of crunchie (the honeycomb centered one), aero, maybe even kit-kat (quite unsure about this one!). Maybe something simillar to bueno (the hazlenut filled chocolate).
I am quite a dreamer; fantasizing about cupcakes has become a hobby!!!
If the ones above are a bit too crazy, could you maybe post a tutorial or a set of instructions that show how to incorporate fruit into frosting? The other day, i tried to make a kiwi frosting for some chocolate cakes i had baked simply because they were available. But when i made the frosting, the kiwi sort of spereated from the frosting and it seemed quite hard and was virtually non-pipable (is that word?!).
Do you have any ideas?
Love from one of your biggest fans!
Kiera x
Using fruit cane be tricky because it has so much moisture it can cause the frosting to “separate.” I look for concentrated flavors like in gelatins (jello), puddings, extracts, even juice powder.
Okay thanks x
Will hunt for some juice powder!
Do you ever freeze your cupcakes, I’m having a graduation party and wanted to get some things done beforehand. Obviously I’d do the icing the day-of. Let me know about freezing the cupcakes.
Thanks,
I do not freeze cupcakes, but the way to do it is let them cool all the way, then put them in tupperware to freeze. If you are layering them, use parchment paper between rows of cupcakes.
I did let them cool, I put them in a large freezer bag and keep them flat. I hope that was okay!!! I’ll let you know how they do!!! Yikes I made three different kind, I’ve done your cupcakes before but haven’t frozen any before. Do you think they will dry out??. Wish me luck!!!
They should be fine. If you put them in before they cool it just makes a big mess, that’s why I stressed that point.