Chocolate Coca-Cola Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting are quick and easy, with intense chocolate and peanut butter flavor.
The title of this post should be enough grab your attention- but if you haven’t already jumped ahead to get started on the recipe, let me tell you these Chocolate Coca-Cola Cupcakes have intense chocolate flavor with a nice, light crumb texture. You really don’t taste the Coca-Cola yet there is a bit of zing from the Coke and that’s also what gives the cupcakes the almost-black color.
These cupcakes whip up in no time, using one bowl for dry ingredients and a sauce pan for everything else. Once combined, the batter is a bit thin but don’t worry, these bake up to an airy, chocolate cake. Paired with the Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting, this is super easy to whip up while the cupcakes are baking.
And speaking of the frosting! It’s downright dangerous. Go ahead, stare at that cupcake right up there and then tell me your mouth isn’t watering and you don’t imagine the creamiest most peanut buttery-est flavor. The frosting has Butter TWICE in the title! What more do you need to know?
I’ll sit these on the counter and when Dave comes home from work he’ll cut off a quarter of one of the cakes for a quick treat, and slowly (actually not very slowly) the rest of the cupcake disappears as well. And I get in trouble if I try and try to share too many with friends or neighbors. Irresistable.
If you want a nice gluten-free option for this recipe, make my Gluten-free Chocolate Cake recipe and top it with the peanut butter buttercream. It is absolutely the best chocolate cake and no one will know it’s GF. Just read the comments on that recipe if you’re unsure.
I made the cupcakes look fancy by piping the Peanut Butter Buttercream using a piping bag and simple star decorator tip, but you can also cut a 1/2-inch snip out of a resealable plastic bag and pipe your cupcakes with that and it’ll be equally as impressive. Sprinkle chopped peanut and some sel gris sea salt or any coarse salt you like. That extra little crunch of salt kind of melts in each bite and intensifies the rest of the flavors. I have to mention the chocolate sprinkles I used for this recipe because if you bake a lot you may already be familiar with Deruyter Chocolate Sprinkles. These are the real deal, made with real chocolate. Shown on the cupcakes are both the milk chocolate and dark chocolate variety.
Quick, easy, pretty and best of all, amazing. Chocolate Coca-Cola Cupcakes with Salted Peanut Butter Buttercream will be a hit at your next get-together. They stay fresh for about three days but they probably won’t stick around for three days. 🙂
Chocolate Coca-Cola Cupcakes with Salted Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 1 cup /240 ml Coca-Cola, Mexican is best if you can find it since it uses regular sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. If you can't find Mexican Coca Cola, just do NOT use diet
- ½ cup /50 g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 Tablespoons ½ stick/60 g unsalted butter, cut into fours
- ½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons/130 g granulated sugar
- ¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- ¾ cup /110 g all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon plus ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 large egg
For the Peanut Butter Buttercream:
- 4 cups /480 g confectioners' sugar
- 8 ounces 2 sticks/230 g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup /260 g natural creamy peanut butter, more is fine for extra peanut flavor
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 4 to 5 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- Chocolate jimmies or sprinkles
- Ground salted peanuts
- Sel gris or coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
Make the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C degrees.
- Line 12 standard cupcake pan wells with cupcake liners.
- In a small saucepan, heat 1 cup Coca-Cola, ½ cup cocoa powder, ½ stick butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add ½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons granulated and ¼ cup brown sugar and whisk until dissolved. Remove the mixture from the heat source and let cool for about 10 minutes.
- While the Coca-Cola mixture cools, in a medium bowl whisk ¾ cup flour, ½teaspoon plus ⅛ teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon salt together.
- In a small bowl, whisk 1 egg until foamy, then whisk into the cooled cocoa mixture. Getnly stir the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. It will be thin and might be a little lumpy, that is fine.
- Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners (note: Since the batter is thin, it might help to pour it into a bowl with a pour spout to help better control your pouring.), fill the liners a generous three-quarters full. Bake the cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, or until the cakes spring back when pressed in the middle.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
Make the Salted Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting:
- Combine 4 cups confectioners' sugar, 2 sticks butter, 1 cup peanut butter, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until just combined, then switch to high speed and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add 4-5 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream, 1 Tablespoon at a time, and beat until the mixture is lightened and smooth. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with any ½-inch decorator piping tip or use a resealable plastic bag with the corner snipped off. Pip the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes.
- Garnish with jimmies, ground peanuts, and a sprinkling of sel gris (salt).
Recipe adapted from Sea Salt Sweets cookbook.
WOW! So good, so moist! I added a cut up mini peanut butter Reeses cup on each cupcake and they got devoured!
This is amazing! If you love peanut butter like I do, you will love these cupcake. So moist from the cola and the frosting is probably the best I’ve ever had. Thank you Sally! One of my favorites!
Super good!! I used a cherry coke and it was absolutely the moistest cupcakes I have ever had. I like the fact that it doesn’t have oil in it either. Soo yummy!!
I’m not sure if you had me at salted peanut butter frosting or dark chocolate cupcakes, but I know I want one right now! These look soooo good. I’m not surprised they are irresistible and disappear quickly. Yum!
Thanks, Annemarie! 😀 This made my night.
I’ve used coca cola for meats but never thought to use it in baking! This is genius!
Hi Nicole, I hope you’ll try some cola in a batch of baking chocolate some time. It really lifts the flavor! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
This is such a neat idea! I’ve never had coke in a dessert before – definitely need to try that! And that icing – perfection!!
Thanks Lauren! It is a nice surprising note. 🙂
I love this recipe!! I just pinned it so I can make it this weekend. I have not baked with Coca-Cola.
Hi Susie, thanks for pinning my recipe and I hope you like it. The Coca-cola adds a little “zing” to the cupcakes and intensifies the chocolate flavor.
Peanut butter & chocolate just belong together! These look so moist & delicious. Would have never thought of adding Coca cola…interesting!
Hi Stephanie, I agree about chocolate and peanut butter being best friends. The Coca-cola adds a brightness and enhances the chocolate flavor but you don’t really taste coke ;). Thanks for stopping by.
What a creative cupcake twist! Love them. 🙂
What a creative cupcake twist! And you can never go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate – delicious!