Chocolate whisky cupcakes with peanut butter icing

Every time a new DH magazine issue arrives I go crazy with so many delicious recipes and it’s a tough task to choose which one to make first. This time, however, it was a bit easier: I decided I would only make something if I had all the ingredients home. Since I was out of cream cheese all the gorgeous cheesecakes would have to wait, that way I settled for these cupcakes: tender and deeply chocolaty, they are enhanced by the delicious icing. The original recipe called for smooth peanut butter but I used crunchy and thought that it worked really well, adding a nice bite to the smooth frosting. The recipe also called for a caramel sauce to be poured over the frosting but to me the cupcakes were sweet enough without it – more sugar wouldn’t do them any good.

Chocolate whisky cupcakes with peanut butter icing
slightly adapted from the always delicious and stunning Donna Hay Magazine

Cupcakes:
200g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons whisky
140g unsalted butter, chopped
½ cup (45g) Dutch-processed cocoa, sifted
2 eggs
1/3 cup sour cream*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
275g granulated sugar

Peanut butter icing:
160g icing sugar, sifted
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
80g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a 12-hole (½ cup capacity each) cupcake pan with paper liners.
Cupcakes: in a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Place the whisky and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and stir until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cocoa. Add the eggs, sour cream and vanilla and whisk to combine. Whisk in the sugar, then the flour mixture and mix until smooth. Pour the batter equally into the prepared pan (don’t go over 1/3 of the capacity or the batter might overflow) and bake for 25-30 minutes or until risen and cooked through when tested with a skewer. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing: place the sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale and fluffy, 6-8 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the cream and beat for 1 minute. Spread the icing over the cooled cupcakes.

*homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Makes 12 – I halved the recipe above, used 1/3-cup capacity muffin pans and got 9 cupcakes