Resa’s Birthday Cupcakes

I’ve had a few birthdays for favorite people lately, and those people happen to love peanut butter. My grandfather just turned 80 and his favorite candy is–you guessed it! Reese’s! For those of you that listen to The Promise radio, you probably already know that they call Theresa “Resa” for a reason. So, with the pressure of birthday parties to prepare for, I spent a little time in the kitchen and came up with a wonderful (at least according to a few of my taste testers) peanut butter frosting recipe that just happens to be delightful on a fudge brownie or anything else available.

For my grandpa’s surprise party I created a huge fudge brownie cake that was smeared with ganache and peanut butter frosting. I learned at the party that this rich dessert can be decadent, so I decided it would do well for mini fudge brownie cupcakes. I then proceeded to make them for my friends, Betsy and Theresa, and they were a hit at both parties.

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Fudge Brownie Cakes

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup butter, melted
• 2 tsp instant coffee
• 2 TBSP water
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla

Dry Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• ¾ cup Nestle Cocoa powder
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• “Mini” foil baking cups (these do not require a muffin pan)

Preheat oven to 350° F .

Combine sugar, butter, and water in large bowl. Stir in coffee, eggs, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl whisk together dry ingredients. Stir into sugar mixture then scoop into mini foil baking cups, only filling ¾ full, and bake about 10-15 minutes (you want them to be fudgy in the middle). Cool then frost with recipe below. Yield: 33 mini cakes

Peanut Butter Frosting

• ¾ cup salted butter, at room temperature
• ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 TBSP vanilla extract
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 4 TBSP whole milk

Beat together butter and peanut butter, until creamy and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, and then add powdered sugar–one cup at a time. Add milk; scrape bowl, and beat until thoroughly mixed; then continue to beat about two minutes on medium speed with an electric mixer, until light and fluffy. Pipe with pastry bag onto cooled brownie cakes.