Memoirs of an Amateur Cook

I adore peanuts and everything containing them so when I was brainstorming cupcake ideas a while ago, a ‘Snickers’ inspired cupcake seemed like a really good idea and I couldn’t wait to get baking.  This is a recipe I devised for the Northampton Life website – check it out here.

This recipe may seem rather long-winded but, I promise that the results are worth it!  This is truly a scrumptious cupcake that every peanut butter lover will adore.  The sponge is wonderfully soft and buttery complimented beautifully by the crunch of the caramelised nuts with a hint of saltiness coming through from the caramel sauce.  I would go so far as to say that this is one of my best baking creations yet and my mouth is watering just at the thought of these beauties….!  Still, I think I will have to wait a while before baking these wonderful creations again as they are more work than your average cupcake.

Of course, I cannot take all the credit for the recipe.  The icing was inspired by a buttercream recipe from the Great British Bake Off cookbook and the caramel sauce is inspired by one of the gorgeous Nigella Lawson’s recipes.

Memoirs of an Amateur Cook’s ‘Snickers’ Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

280g caster sugar

80 margarine

200g plain flour

40g cocoa powder

1 tbsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

240ml skimmed milk

3 eggs

3tbsp smooth peanut butter

For the icing:

125g margarine

400g icing sugar

3-4 tbsp skimmed milk

3 generous tbsp cocoa powder

 For the caramel sauce:

35g margarine

25g soft light brown sugar

 25g caster sugar

25g golden syrup

60ml double cream

half tsp crushed sea salt

For the peanuts:

 100g salted peanuts

100g granulated sugar

50ml water

Pinch of ground cinnamon

 Dash of vanilla essence

For the peanuts:

1. Line a baking tray with foil.  In a small, heavy based saucepan mix the sugar, water and peanuts together and place over a medium heat.  Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Continue to cook and stir.  The liquid will reduce and become syrupy and after 15 minutes, the mixture will turn grainy and look sandy.
3. Stir every so often so that the sugar doesn’t burn.  The grainy mixture will turn back into a syrup and the peanuts should turn a golden brown.  Add the cinnamon and vanilla and remove from the heat.
4. Scrape the peanut mixture on to the prepared baking tray and leave to cool and set before breaking into small pieces.

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and line a muffin tin with cupcake papers.
2. Mix together the sugar, margarine, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt until all the ingredients have come together and it resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Add in the eggs, milk and peanut butter, mixing until you have a smooth batter.
3. Spoon the batter evenly into the cupcake cases so that each one is three-quarters full.  Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
4. Once cooked, take out of the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

For the caramel sauce:

1. Put the sugars, butter and syrup in a small pan.  Heat gently, allow to melt and combine, simmering for a few minutes until the sauce thickens.
2. Add the cream and salt to the pan and stir.  Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool before putting in the fridge.

For the icing:

1. Put the margarine in a large bowl and sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder.  Add the milk to the bowl and beat until smooth and thick.

To assemble:

1. Ice the cooled cupcakes using either a pallet knife or a piping bag.
2. Sprinkle the crushed peanuts on the top.
3. Drizzle with caramel sauce.

Apologies for the poor photograph, this wasnt one of my best photographic attempts!  I probably should have baked and photographed these again but I really couldn’t resist sharing them with you.  You will also see that I tried something a bit different with the icing this time in order to make life a bit easier for myself however, I believe that piping buttercream around the cupcake in a spiral with a large nozzle really does work better presentation wise.  Still, it is always good to try different techniques!

The recipe will make extra caramelised peanuts and caramel sauce however, the nuts are great on their own and any leftover caramel sauce would be a fantastic addition to a bowl full of vanilla ice cream or drizzled over fresh crepes.

Set aside some time, get baking and dig in!