Decadent Chocolate Peanut Butter Filled Cupcakes

Not for the faint of heart, definitely not diet friendly! I concocted these when I was fiending for chocolate and peanut butter. The cake part is based on a recipe I saw on Allrecipes.com and fixed it up to my liking, frosting and filling were my idea! Tis works really well with the Debbie Meyer filled-cupcakes tool but you can also just use a pastry bag with a tip to fill them. Also a good way to use up a whole 2-lb bag of confectioners sugar! Can use regular all-purpose or cake flours instead of WWP if you don't have it nearby.

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Serves: 24-30
• Yields: 24-30 cupcakes

Ingredients

• CAKE

• 1 1⁄3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (1 1/3, not 1 1/2...argh hate this new setup!)
• 1  tablespoon baking powder
• 1⁄4 cup cocoa powder
• 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1  cup sugar
• 1⁄2 cup canola oil
• 3  egg whites (important, see directions)
• 1  cup milk
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract

• FILLING

• 1 1⁄2 cups creamy peanut butter (Smart Balance is the best for this)
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1  lb confectioners' sugar

• FROSTING

• 1⁄2 cup salted butter (1 stick)
• 1  lb confectioners' sugar
• 3  tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 -4  tablespoons milk (see directions)

Directions

1. Firstly, while you're doing all this-- leave that stick of salted butter out to soften. It needs about 20-30 minutes to soften to make really good smooth frosting.
2. In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, salt, and sugar together until blended.
3. Whip the egg whites until a little frothy then pour them in-- wanna use egg substitute like Egg Beaters or pourable egg whites? Use 1/2 cup like normal eggs.
4. Add the oil and vanilla and beat well.
5. Mix in the milk well, and beat on low speed (or carefully whisk by hand) to make sure there are no lumps in the mixture.
6. Fill 24 muffin papers halfway (you might get up to 30 or so with this recipe though, so fill as needed) with batter, and bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
7. While they're cooling off, make the filling by combining the peanut butter, vanilla, and 1 lb of confectioners' sugar (usually a whole little box, or about half of a 2-lb bag) in a bowl and beating on high until fully mixed. Resist the urge to eat all of it out of the bowl!
8. Scoop the filling into a pastry bag (or my ghetto way of using a food storage bag with the corner cut off to clip on a decorator tip) and when the cupcakes have cooled, fill each cupcake with roughly 1 tablespoon worth of filling.
9. Make the frosting by taking a large bowl and putting the butter (which should be good and soft now!) into the bottom, and running the electric mixer through it before putting any other ingredients in the bowl.
10. Add a little bit of confectioners sugar, the cocoa powder, and vanilla and beat again.
11. Alternate adding confectioners' sugar and a little milk at a time until you get a nice, thick frosting-like consistency.
12. Spread the frosting onto each cupcake with a frosting spreader or butter knife, or use a pastry bag and decorator tip for a fancier touch.
13. Enjoy the sweet chocolatey peanut buttery overload!