Recipe Remake: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate peanut butter cupcakes are my most requested recipe. I make them quite a few times a year—sometimes a few times a month when I have a lot of special events going on. And they always get rave reviews! I have to agree. These are pretty great, plus they are no fail. The chocolate cupcakes are bouncy, chocolately, and perfect every time. (Shh, they also happen to be vegan!) The peanut butter icing is fluffy, salty, and amazing enough to eat with a spoon. If you're looking for a cupcake to win over a crowd, try this one.

Chocolate Cupcakes 
Source: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
1 and 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa (unsweetened)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 cups water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 paper cupcake liners. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, and set aside. In another bowl, beat together oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water with a hand mixer on medium-high speed. Add flour mixture and beat until smooth on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake about 18–22 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Salted Peanut Butter Icing
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 stick butter (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/4 teaspoon regular salt)
2–3 cups powdered sugar
2–3 tablespoons milk

Beat together peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt until smooth with a mixer on medium speed. With mixer on low speed, add powdered sugar one cup at a time and milk one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Add more milk or powdered sugar if needed. Beat until smooth and fluffy.