Chocolate Cupcakes with peanut butter filling and chocolate mousse frosting (eggless)
 
 
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Ingredients
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1¾ cups sugar*
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used KA Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa)
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda*
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups hot water*
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup melted butter
  • 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the peanut butter mousse
  • 113 gms cream cheese
  • ⅓ cup confectioners sugar
  • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch salt
  • ½ cup heavy cream
For the chocolate mousse: (if you plan to make tall swirls double the recipe, if making the cake then for the filling this is enough)
  • ¼ cup hot water
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¼ tsp espresso coffee
  • 130 gms bittersweet chocolate
  • 1 cup heavy cream, cold
  • 4 tbsp nutella
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350º with rack in the center.
  2. If making cake, prepare 3 8 inch cake tins by greasing and lining them with parchment rounds. If make cupcakes, line cupcake pan with liners.
  3. Whisk the dry ingredients except instant coffee together in a large mixing bowl. I suggest sifting all the dry ingredients except the sugar in the large bowl and then whisking in the sugar.
  4. Combine the wet ingredients- water, oil, vinegar, instant coffee, and vanilla in a large measuring cup.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold together with a wooden or rubber spatula or a hand whisk just until combined, a few lumps are OK.
  6. Pour batter into prepared pans.
  7. Bake until a tester comes out clean, 25-30 min for cake, 15-18 min for cupcakes.
  8. Let the cakes cool in pan for 10 minutes. Run a skewer or knife around the edges to loosen the cake.Invert on wire rack, or remove cupcakes from pan. Let cool completely.
For the peanut butter mousse:
  1. In a stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese with sugar, peanut butter, vanilla and salt on medium speed until creamy and light, about 5 minutes. Beat cream in another bowl on high speed to stiff but not dry peaks. Fold cream into peanut butter mixture. Keep chilled until ready to use.
For the chocolate mousse:
  1. Dissolve the cocoa powder and instant espresso powder in hot water. Melt the chocolate until its nice and smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
  2. In a large bowl, whip the cream with 1 tbsp sugar (if required, the non dairy kinds comes sweetened) until hard peaks form.
  3. Stir the cocoa mixture and nutella into the melted chocolate. Add half of the whipped cream and gently mix everything together. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream and mix until no white streaks are left. Refrigerate until cake is cooled completely.
To assemble:
For cupcakes:
  1. I use a 1M tip to remove some cake from the centre of the cupcake. You could use a knife or a corer if you have one. Fill with the peanut butter mousse. Swirl the chocolate mousse on the top. You can drizzle with some chocolate ganache if you feel like.
For the cake:
  1. Put your first layer of cake on the board. Drizzle with some simple syrup ( feel free to add liqueur to the syrup- bailey's works well). Fill with a layer of peanut butter mousse. Top with the second layer of cake. Drizzle with syrup. Fill with a layer of chocolate mousse. Top with the third layer of chocolate cake. Glaze the cake with chocolate ganache or leftover mousse, as you like. Decorate as you like.
Recipe by The Novice Housewife at https://novicehousewife.com/2016/11/08/chocolate-cupcakes-peanut-butter-filling-chocolate-mousse-frosting-eggless/