Last week my mom, sister, and I took our annual girls trip to New York. We go every year before Christmas for a few days of shopping, show-seeing, and (of course) eating. Food-wise, it’s so lovely to be in a city where a gluten free diet doesn’t drastically limit your choices.
When we were in SoHo visiting heaven in the form of the The Frye Company Flagship Store (I got these and these and I’m in love), I knew that a bakery would be the next stop. I would have loved to go to the all gluten-free, vegan, refined-sugar free BabyCakes NYC, but it was a few blocks farther than I was willing to walk with our shopping bags. Enter Georgetown Cupcakes. They had a shop just around the corner from Frye, and I knew they offered a gluten free cupcake every day.
While there is an obvious risk of cross-contamination in a bakery like this, the server changed gloves and took every precaution I could expect. The cupcake was Peanut Butter Fudge, and it was to die for. Worth every delicious bite. And the inspiration behind this delicious Christmas Eve creation!
I adapted this recipe for chocolate cupcakes from Sally’s Baking Addiction Death By Chocolate Cupcakes. In gluten free baking, I like to add a little extra moisture and fat content. Often I do that in the form of an extra egg or egg yolk, but in this case, I decreased the amount of cocoa powder and used more melted chocolate.
And really, who could argue with a little more of that to pour in?
The batter was really thick. Chocolate mousse-ish. Also, you’ll notice that these don’t have cupcake liners. Full disclosure, this was not an intentional, stylistic thing. I just didn’t realize I only had four cupcake liners left in my cabinet. These would have been a lot less nerve-wracking with liners. 
I made a quick ganache that I intended to fill the cupcakes with, but since they were a little delicate without liners, I didn’t want to take the chance. Instead of coring them, I just topped them with a little ganache and then drizzled it on top of the icing.
To get the fudge taste I was looking for in the peanut butter icing, I made it very thick. In fact, it ended up being a little too thick to pipe, but a little too delicious to thin out. Problem solved by my medium cookie scoop!
A scoop of icing in the center with some ganache drizzled on top. Fudgey and delicious. But I couldn’t stop there, it was Christmas Eve, after all, and I was taking these over to my parents’ house.
Ta-da! Red and green sprinkles. The perfect, Christmas-y finishing touch and they were all ready for me, my family, and a potentially gluten free Santa!
GF Peanut Butter Fudge Cupcakes
Makes: 12 Cupcakes Prep: 30 min Bake: ~20 min
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
1 stick butter
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate
¼ cup cocoa powder
¾ cup all purpose gluten free flour (I used Jules’ Gluten Free AP Flour)
½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs, room temp
½ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk
For the ganache:
½ cup heavy cream
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chopped
For the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup peanut butter
½ stick butter, softened
¾ tsp vanilla
⅓ cup heavy cream
Directions:
For the cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 cupcake tins (or grease very well.)
2. Melt the chocolate and the butter together. Stir until smooth and set aside to cool.
3. In a separate bowl, toss cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.
4. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with paddle, beat together the eggs, white and brown sugar, and vanilla. Pour in the butter/chocolate mixture and beat to combine.
5. Add half of the flour mixture, then half of the buttermilk. Stir to combine. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and buttermilk. Stir until well combined.
6. Scoop batter into tins, filling about 2/3 full. Bake 18-20 minutes or until tops are springy and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.
For ganache:
1. Heat cream until it has just started to bubble then pour over chopped chocolate. Let chocolate and cream stand for two minutes, then whisk until smooth and glossy. Allow to cool slightly. Pour into piping bag.
For icing:
1. Cream together the butter, peanut butter, and vanilla.
2. Slowly add in powdered sugar. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy scraping down the bowl as you go.
3. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth. It will be thick! Add powdered sugar or cream a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
Fill cupcakes or top cupcakes with ganache. Scoop icing onto cupcake. Drizzle with remaining ganache. Top with festively colored sprinkles or sugar!
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