Chubby Hubby Cupcakes

Just when things wind down from the wedding and I'm enjoying my days not being a bit of a whirlwind, my cheer teams goes and wins their Emass Championships yesterday and keeps us in the running! This may sound like a complaint, but it's not. I'm so super proud of them and can't wait to keep improving the routine and see what they bring to New England Regionals in two weeks! We now face the battle of finding gym space. With the weather getting colder and winter sports on the horizon, gym space in the schools dwindles, and we get the bottom of the waiting list. This week we have early practices, which is nice to come home and make dinner at 5:30 instead of trying to make it at 4:30 or 8:00. I also get time to bake at night, which I've been trying to get back to.

Since my last post, which was the Banana Butterscotch Cream Pie Cupcakes, I made a few dishes, and if I find some more time, I'll get around to posting the recipes for them. However, these cupcakes are way better than those recipes, so they get the spotlight for this post. This recipe comes from one of my favorite cooking blogs, Annie's Eats. She makes amazing cupcakes (well, amazing everything) and I've used some of her recipes in the past and always had great results. This is a great play off of Chubby Hubby Ice Cream, a Ben & Jerry's favorite. It has a malted vanilla cake filled with chocolate ganache and chopped up milk and dark chocolate covered pretzels, and topped off with a fluffy peanut butter buttercream frosting. I'm not a huge malt fan. I've made some chocolate malt cupcakes before, and they're yummy, but malt is just a flavor I'm done with after a few bites. These cupcakes are great because the peanut butter and chocolate mix in well so the malt isn't overpowering.

Chubby Hubby Cupcakes
 slightly adapted from Annie's Eats

for the cake:
3 cups cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1.5 cups sugar
1 cup malted milk powder
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 cups buttermilk, room temperature

for the filling:
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup coarsely chopped pretzels (or chocolate covered pretzels)

for the frosting:
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter
4.5 cups powdered sugar
pinch of coarse salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. heavy cream

chocolate covered pretzels for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 cupcake tins. Mine made 28 cupcakes, so I lined 4 more in a smaller tin.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually add in the sugar, about a quarter cup at a time, mixing between each addition. Blend in the malted milk powder. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl, and mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. With the mixture on slow speed, add the dry ingredients alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.
4. Divide the batter between the cupcake liners. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
5. For the ganache, heat the heavy cream until scalding. Pour over the chopped chocolate and let sit for a few minute. Mix together until chocolate is melted and smooth. Mix in the unsalted butter. Let sit and firm up while cupcakes cool.
6. When cupcakes are cool, cut out the centers and fill with ganache. Sprinkle with chopped pretzels.
7. For the frosting, beat together the butter and peanut butter, for 4 minutes until fluffy. Mix in the powdered sugar, in half-cup increments with the mixer on low. Mix in salt. Mix in vanilla and cream until just incorporated. Increase speed to medium-high and beat for 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Frost cupcakes however you choose.