Did you know that you can make ganache with peanut butter? You can! And since ganache is easy, this is an easy topping.
We added chopped pretzels as a coating. The pretzels created a spark of salt and crunch (I thought we needed more pretzel pieces but both Kelli, in the kitchen, and Leslie, from Production, said it was just right).
The Cupcakes
Vanilla Bean Baby Cakes cake mix
Mix and bake cupcakes according to package directions.
The Filling
Clip a corner on the two-pound pack and squeeze about 1/3 ounce through the top of each baked cupcake.
The Buttercream Frosting
Buttercream Frosting recipe
You can use our vanilla buttercream frosting mix, our basic buttercream recipe, or a recipe of your choice. Make the frosting with butter, not shortening.
The Peanut Butter Ganache
This peanut butter ganache recipe is made just like our chocolate ganache, with just a few minor modifications. Like the chocolate ganache, you want to use a good quality chocolate. We recommend wafers, not chips, since wafers are made with a better chocolate and are of candy-making quality. You may thin your ganache with more cream. You will need:
1 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
8 oz. Chocolate
Bring the cream to a boil. Remove from the heat. In a medium bowl, pour the hot cream over the chocolate and peanut butter. Stir until melted. Let the ganache cool until it reaches a desired thick consistency. You can heat it or cool it as needed to get a thick coating.
How to Assemble Your Cupcakes
Bake cupcakes and let them cool on a wire rack. Fill them with the chocolate Bavarian crème. Frost the cupcakes. To get the pillowy mounds of frosting, we use a round tip on a pastry bag, not a star tip, to apply the frosting. Dip the frosted tops in the peanut butter ganache. The ganache should be cool enough so that you get a generous coating of ganache on the cupcake and so that it just barely starts to melt the frosting. Sprinkle the frosted and chocolate coated tops with pretzel pieces.
