Chocolate Peanut-Butter Cupcakes: a healthier take on a yummy dessert

The morning of my family brunch, I set out to pick up some items to make a healthier dessert. I had originally planned on making mini red velvet cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting (actually made of tofu), but ended up with chocolate cupcakes with a peanut-butter frosting. I can't say I was expecting that to happen.

I walked into Whole Foods with my shopping list in hand, but upon reaching the isle housing the baking goods, I found that they didn't have any red velvet cake mix. With little time before guests would be arriving at the house, I grabbed a box of chocolate cake mix instead. They also didn't carry any trays for mini cupcakes, so I figured I'd improvise by using the tray for regularly sized cupcakes that I had at home. Luckily, the store had both of the tofu products I needed for the icing!

My icing errors actually proved to be rather great
since the sweet, gooey liquid was able to soak into the
cupcakes and made them even moister!

Except that I didn't end up using that icing. A quick taste test was enough for me to realize that it tasted far too much like tofu and very little like cream cheese frosting. I tried making it work, but adding in more vanilla extract definitely didn't make for any improvement. Switching gears, I decided to make a peanut-butter frosting. The only issue was that I didn't consider the thinner consistency of the peanut butter I used, being Better n' Peanut Better, and also may have blended the ingredients together for a bit too long, both of which I'm sure are the reasons why my icing came out in liquid form.

Then there was the baking time of the cupcakes. I realized that since I was following a recipe for mini cupcakes and was baking them in a regularly sized tin with partially filled cups that probably amounted to the size of two and half mini cupcakes, the baking time would be increased. I found it odd that the cupcakes still weren't done after adding on additional time and had to keep them baking in the oven for longer than I would have thought to. Finally, after 29 minutes, they were ready. Only when I was taking the cupcakes out of the tin did I realized that another cupcake tin had been stuck onto the bottom of the one I was using. And that explained that oddity.

Regardless of my many errors, the cupcakes came out well! Though I changed the cake mix, I stuck to this recipe from Women's Health Magazine and used this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie for the icing. I'd just like to make a point to say that these cupcakes are not healthy, but they are definitely a step up from the usual cupcake, seeing as how the recipe doesn't call for any additional oil and only uses half the amount of cake mix. The icing is also far healthier than store bought icing since it isn't comprised of a load of sugar (in fact, it doesn't call for any added sugar) and even has some nutritional value that comes from the peanut butter and unsweetened cocoa powder!

If you try making these cupcakes yourself, stick to the original instructions rather than using the provisions I made— I'd be interested to see someone else make this recipe without making all of my errors! I'd expect them to look far more picturesque at the very least!