Tell me about your Labor Day weekend so far.. Yes, that’s right. It was one of those epic, yet relaxing weekends to close out a nonstop (and kinda stressful!) summer. Looking forward to Fall things.
Speaking of Fall! I want to share THE most perfect September treat. Nothing brings me back to September school days growing up quite like PB&J sandwiches, except for maybe a new set of butterfly hair clips and a lisa frank pencil case.
Something you’ve gotta know about these peanut butter & jelly cupcakes: they start from my simply perfect vanilla cupcakes. Have you had the chance to try them in the past week? I love them. They’re fluffy and sweet, soft and light, moist and buttery all in one cupcake wrapper. We can owe all the lightness to the sour cream, cake flour (use store bought or this cake flour substitute if needed), creamed butter, and egg whites.
I chose to make them this way—rather than a peanut butter cupcake base—because I wanted just the right balance of peanut butter and jelly. So peanut butter frosting, on top of a vanilla cupcake, filled with strawberry jelly. Now doesn’t that sound like the quintessential lunchbox treat? Nostalgic and comforting. ♥
(PS: If you do want to make these the other way around, try my peanut butter cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting. You can even add jelly in the middle like we do here.)
Just like the original, I added vanilla bean to the cupcake batter. You can leave it out completely, but I really like the extra flavor it brings. Vanilla bean and peanut butter… vanilla bean and strawberry… these flavors are just so beautiful.
Remember, when you’re filling cupcake wrappers with batter—fill only about 2/3 – 3/4 full. Otherwise your cupcakes could rise too tall then sink back down. Or worse! Spill over the edges. See above? That’s about how high I always fill mine.
And they always rise fabulously. See?
This is just about as fancy as the whole ziplock bag thing I do with my glazed lemon poppy seed donuts, but here’s how I always fill my cupcakes:
Sure it’s a little scrappy, but it works. Just cut a little circle out of the cupcake, fill with about 1 teaspoon of jelly and top with the piece you cut out. You can use any flavor jelly you like. Maybe grape is more your style? It works here!
Once you pile the frosting on top, you won’t be able to see the cut-out underneath. It can be our little cupcake secret. Now it’s time for the frosting. This is my favorite peanut butter frosting on the planet. I’ve been using it for a few years from brownies to snickers cupcakes (yes!) and, of course, chocolate cake and chocolate cupcakes. It’s rich and creamy without being overly sweet. In fact, all you taste is peanut butter. Which makes sense because it’s mostly all peanut butter! Only 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar, rather than 3 or 4 like most frostings.
To frost these peanut butter & jelly cupcakes, I used Wilton piping tip #12. This is a super simple frosting method if you ever want to try it. Place the tip straight up on the center of the cupcake, then apply pressure and slowly lift up. That’s all I do!
Check out all that jelly inside these super fluffy vanilla cupcakes. Not sure which part is the best, but that strawberry surprise inside is pretty awesome.
That light and fluffy cupcake texture! Happy back-to-school everyone. 🙂
For even more inspiration, check out this list of 30+ back to school recipes.
Fluffy vanilla cupcakes filled with your favorite jelly and topped with peanut butter frosting!
