Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

I can't believe it's September already. September is my favourite month of the year as we head into autumn but more importantly it's my birthday month! I absolutely love birthdays, it was always a big celebration in my family growing up and that tradition has continued. It turns out that it's birthday week this week at work so I had to make something extra special (3 birthdays in 3 consecutive days).  Here's a snippet of the conversation at work which gave me my inspiration. 

Colleague : Ros, what cake are we having tomorrow?
Me: Cake? Well I wasn't planning on baking anything but what would you like?
Colleague : Oh the brownies were really good. Pause. Actually that peanut butter cake you made was amazing....now I really want peanut butter.
Me: Ok I'll think of something.
Colleague : It's J's birthday tomorrow and E's birthday the day after.
Me: And mine the day after that!

So I decided to make these peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes - some baked in ice cream cones and others decorated to look like a giant ice cream cone. I also got a chance to use my silicone spoon mould to make some chocolate spoons. I wanted to make chocolate biscuits but ran out of time. These were so popular I made them again the next day so in total I've baked over 50 cupcakes in 2 days and there's 2 left that I know of! 

I used my trusted peanut butter cupcake recipe which has a lovely light texture and is full of peanut butter flavour. The first day I made a peanut butter cream cheese icing as I didn't have any double cream and the second day I made peanut butter frosting with double cream. Personally I prefer the cream cheese version as it helps balance the sweetness of the cake. I also made a batch of chocolate buttercream frosting which went well with the peanut butter/chocolate cupcakes. 

I'm entering this to Calendar Cakes hosted by Laura from Laura Loves Cakes and Rachel from Dolly Bakes. The theme this month is cupcakes as it's National Cupcake week between 16-22nd September. 

I'm also entering this to a new blogging challenge called Treat Petite. It's hosted by Kat from The Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi and the idea is to submit any sweet treat that's individually portioned and not a big cake. Luckily cupcakes are acceptable, otherwise I'll enter my chocolate spoons! The theme this month is 'No Theme' so anything goes. 

 ready to bake my cupcakes

 I bought 2 different ice cream cones. The cornets for decoration and the cup cones for baking. 

 my chocolate batter was quite liquid compared to the peanut butter one but they turned out well after baking 

 I used some foil to support the ice cream cones. 

 start with some chocolate dough

 add some peanut butter dough

 peanut butter cream cheese frosting 

 ready to decorate. I coloured some of the peanut butter icing to resemble ice cream flavours 

 I used some icing to stick the cone to the tray and to stick the cupcakes to the tray 

 pipe different colours on each cupcake and decorate with sprinkles 

 silicone spoon mould 

 fill with melted chocolate and leave to set in the fridge 

 ice cream cone cupcakes 

 The cones remain crisp after baking but will go a little soft after leaving it overnight with frosting on top 

 you can see the 2 different batters I used for the cupcake. 

 Tip for carrying ice cream cone cupcakes - use an egg tray 

Peanut butter cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

75g butter
130g smooth peanut butter
190g dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
120g plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
60ml semi-skimmed milk

• Preheat the oven to 160C.
• Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar until well blended. 
• Add the eggs, one at a time and then stir in the vanilla extract. 
• Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl.
• Add 1/3 of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat well.
• Pour 1/3 of the milk and beat again.
• Repeat until all the flour and milk have been added. 
• Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases and/or ice cream cones 
• Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes (depending on size of your cupcakes) until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. (The ice cream cones need about 20-25 minutes) 
• Allow to cool completely before decorating. 

Chocolate cupcakes

125g/1 cup all purpose flour
40g/ 1/3 cup cocoa powder
56g/ 1/4 cup caster sugar
100g/ 1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
180mls/ 3/4 cup whole milk
125mls / 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten

• Preheat oven to 160C.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, sugars, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 
• Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs.
• Stir until just combined, scraping bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula to incorporate all of the flour
• Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and/or ice cream cones
• Bake for 18 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Buttercream frosting
175g dark chocolate
225g butter
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g icing sugar, sifted

• Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
• Beat the butter, milk, vanilla extract and icing sugar until smooth.
• Add the melted chocolate and continue beating until thick and creamy.

Peanut butter cream cheese frosting

200g icing sugar
200g cream cheese
110g butter
125g smooth peanut butter

• Place all ingredients in an electric mixer and beat until smooth.

Peanut Butter frosting

110g icing sugar
200g smooth peanut butter
70g butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
80ml double cream

• Place the icing sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
• Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work.
• Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.