Cupcakes for AFS Potluck Thing

Not sure if this is actually going to be a potluck tomorrow, but Oscar (another volunteer with AFS-we're going to his house) asked if I could bring dessert, so here it is! I was just looking through Brown Eyed Baker's recipes and I came across this one. Now me, loving chocolate and peanut butter and all, I couldn't go past it. It looked reasonably simple but so yum! Of course I made it! They taste AMAZING. Using dark chocolate is a good idea because it contrasts so well with the sweet peanut butter icing on top. Last night, after I made them, I left 4 for my family and me. Alex and I had one and there were two left, but mum doesn't like peanut butter as much as we do, especially with chocolate (crazy, right? :O), so there were two left. Dad came downstairs with a cupcake and asked if I wanted half. I thought that it was his so I said, no you have it, it's yours. And he said that he'd already had one but they were so good he wanted another! But, he didn't want to feel bad for not sharing and he knew I was still up so he offered me some! Haha. A testament to just how delicious these are.

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing

Ingredients:
115g butter, softened and cut into cubes
50g dark chocolate bits
1/2 cup dutch-processed or other dark cocoa powder
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2t baking soda
3/4t baking powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1t vanilla extract
1/2t table salt
1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup icing sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
75g butter, at room temperature
3/4t vanilla extract
1/4t salt
1/3 cup cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line standard-size muffin pan with cupcake liners. Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. (Alternately, you can microwave the mixture at a lower power, stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted. This is what I did.) Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of the flour, baking powder and baking soda over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is and thick. Divide the batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Icing:
Place the icing sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth. Ice the cupcakes and eat!