Chocolate Honey Cupcakes with Roasted Peanuts (+ a Chef’n Giveaway!)
We have some really incredible locally-produced honey here in Tennessee. We pick up a giant jar of raw dark wildflower honey at the Farmers’ Market every few months or so, and use it in everything from tea to salad dressings to baked goods. I swear, once you buy some really good pure honey, you will never go back to the cheap-o store stuff (yes, I’m talking about you, Mr. Bear).
A few weeks back I made a chocolate cake, and the cake recipe I used included honey in the batter. Which I didn’t think much of until we were eating it that night. And you know what? You could actually taste the honey. It was a delicious complement to the richness of the chocolate itself.
So I took that idea (as I often do), and downsized it into cupcake form. Mixed in some roasted peanuts (because as a child who would choose a pb & honey sandwich over a pb&j anyday, I knew they were a perfect match), and topped it off with a subtly sweet and buttery rich honey buttercream. Yum. The honey adds an unexpected note of sweetness and depth of flavor to these cupcakes that you can actually taste in the final cake (surprisingly it does not bake out). Not to mention that since honey is naturally moisture-loving, these are some of the moistest cupcakes you will ever eat. To put it concisely, these cupcakes are all-around scrumptious.
Granted, Taylor has never been a fan of peanut butter and cake in the same bite, and while I had hoped that the ground peanuts would differ from simply adding peanut butter, I still think he would have preferred these sans-peanut. But I am sure he won’t put up a fight when I ask him to help me finish off this batch. I mean, cake is cake, right?
Chocolate Honey Cupcakes with Roasted Peanuts and Honey Vanilla Buttercream
Makes 12 cupcakes.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup soy milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, finely groundFor Frosting:
2 large egg whites
3/8 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 cups (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extractDirections:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin pan with paper liners.
Whisk together the soy milk, oil, sugar, honey, and vanilla extract until incorporated. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix in peanuts. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in soy milk mixture. Stir until just smooth (do not overmix).
Pour into liners, filling each with 3 tablespoons of batter (cups should be no more than 2/3 full). For mini cupcakes, fill each with 1 tablespoon batter. Bake 18-20 minutes (or 10-12 for minis), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
To make buttercream, combine the sugar, honey, and egg whites in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, 7-10 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like melted marshmallow cream. Remove from heat and transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer, and whisk on high speed until mixture is completely cooled and stiff peaks form, about 6-10 minutes. Add butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, on low speed, mixing well after each addition. If at any point mixture looks separated or curdled, stop adding butter. Increase speed to high and beat until mixture smooths out again. Reduce speed, and continue adding remaining butter. Beat in vanilla and food coloring (if desired). Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.
save
print
And now on to the giveaway portion of this post! A few weeks back, I was contacted by the fine folks at Chef’n looking to collaborate on a giveaway here on this blog. While I didn’t immediately recognize the company name, I did recognize (and regularly use) a few of their products. Chef’n is responsible for a number of fun, unique, and out-of-the-box kitchen tools, designed to solve many common kitchen conundrums. In fact, I had had a set of their SleekStor™ collapsible measuring cups (in the most gorgeous teal blue) on my wishlist for some time now. When your drawer space is limited, every little bit counts.
So when they offered to send me a set, along with some other baking goodies, how could I say no? And the best part of it all is they have agreed to send a second set of baking gadgets and goodies to one lucky Love & Olive Oil reader!
Up for grabs is one Chef’n Gift set. Included in the prize are 1 set of SleekStor™ collapsible measuring cups (in your choice of 6 colors – Curacao shown above), one Switchit™ All-Purpose spatula and one Switchit™ Spreader spatula (again in your choice of colors – Arugula and Radicchio shown above), and one set of 3 multi-colored Nesting Mixing Bowls.
TO ENTER: simply leave a comment on this post by midnight (cst) on Saturday, March 13th. Only one entry per person. I will randomly select the winner first thing Sunday morning. Prize will be shipped to the winner directly from a Chef’n representative. Giveaway is open to all readers – US and abroad!
You can also get yourself a BONUS entry by twittering about this giveaway, sharing it on facebook, or mentioning it on your own blog. Simply leave an additional comment with a link to the tweet and/or blog post. One bonus entry per person (multiple tweets won’t get you multiple bonus entries).
Be sure you enter a valid email address, because if your name is drawn and I can’t get ahold of you, I will choose an alternate winner. You may also want to add me to your address book (lindsay AT loveandoliveoil DOT com) for good measure, I’d hate for your congratulatory email to end up in the spam folder.
Don’t Miss a Meal!
Subscribe to receive new posts from L&OO in your email box:
Adore your blog, most of all because you seem to really enjoy all your culinary adventures. Love from England x
Reply
I’ve book marked this for future use! Mmm, looks so delicious.
Reply
YUMMY!!!!
Reply
I would love, love, love the Chef’n kit !!
Thank you!
Tina
Reply
I’m off to share this post on my FB!!
Reply
Wow! I may need to get some nice honey soon.
Reply
I can’t wait to try these!
Reply
Love this blog. You make everything look delicious. So far I have made the Homemade Oreos and they all disappeared in only one day!
Reply
Your blog is great and I have enjoyed several recipes published here. I am totally curious about the honey-chocolate flavors in these cupcakes.
Reply
I can’t wait to make these Chocolate Honey Cupcakes! Good thing my fiance doesn’t like honey. Maybe I can horde them for myself…within a reasonable time limit, of course!
Reply
Mmmm honey and peanuts. I have to get over reese’s magic shell on frozen bananas first…
Reply
Great give-away. Thanks for thc chance!!
Reply
What a fab spring-time recipe!!!
Reply
Sounds like an excellent recipe!
Reply
I’ve never been much of a honey person. Free stuff, on the other hand…
Reply
Mmmmmmmmmmmm, lovely cupcakes! And a great giveaway! :)
Reply
I can’t wait to make these! I also preferred peanut butter and honey sandwiches (and still do).
Reply
i love the sweet yellow frosting!
Reply
I have a foodie friend’s birthday coming up, can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with chocolate…gotta try these!
Reply
Those cupcakes look AMAZING! And thanks for another fabulous giveaway!
Reply
hmmm, i never thought about using honey to make cupcakes. i´m going to give it a try. yours look yummy!
Reply
How fun. Love the look of those cupcakes. Mmmm if only I had one right now. Thanks for the giveaway.
Reply
Peanut butter and chocolate are two of my favorite things! The Chef-n giveaway looks great too! Thanks!
Reply
These cupcakes look amazing! I can’t wait to give them a try.
Reply
I LOVE honey. I will have to try these on for size now…
Reply
Sweeeet. Retweeted.
Reply
Those cupcakes look divine and super tasty!!!! What a great idea to add the honey.
Reply
What a lovely giveaway, and such gorgeous colors! They would look excellent in our kitchen (we had flooding and had to redo our kitchen — we chose retro turquoise formica countertops :))!
Reply
I love local honey! I use it for cough medicine and allergy medicine as well. Talk about making the medicine go down! :) Will definitely have to try these cupcakes.
Reply
Wow — local honey AND a giveaway … thanks for waking up my Monday morning :)
Reply
Just shared on FB too — but I don’t know how to send you a link of it :(
Reply
Hoping to add these goodies to my new kitchen where I will finally have the room to bake your lovely cupcake recipes!
Thanks!
Reply
Thanks for the giveaway!!
Reply
I can’t wait to try out this recipe! I LOVE honey and you are right about local hives…it’s the best!!! Great give-a-way too!
Reply
Those are some tasty looking cupcakes! I can’t wait to give them a try.
Reply
Those look really good!
Reply
Oh my goodness! Another thing to enjoy local honey in. Fantastic!
Reply
i love this! cupcakes looks delicious! :)
Reply
i tweeted :
http://twitter.com/zarpandit88
Reply
Your cupcakes are so pretty & look delish! Love the colors of the baking supplies you are giving away :)
Reply
These are so pretty and space savers too! I hope I win!
Reply
Those measuring cups are so clever – and I really like the bright colors. It looks like I’ll be doing some kitchen shopping … again … :)
Reply
Measuring would be fun with those cute cups! Thank for the giveaway!
Reply
Dying to try these! I might try it first without the peanuts, because I’m curious about maybe recreating the cake you first discovered. Yum!
Reply
Oh me me me, pick me! Love those measures! Great cupcake recipe too. thx.
Reply
Nesting mixing bowls and collapsible measuring cups? Sounds like a great way to cut down on kitchen clutter (and look great while doing it!). Count me in!
Reply
Thanks for another tempting recipe and beautiful photos!
Reply
I tweeted it too! http://twitter.com/ClutterCubed/status/10176287450
Reply
These cupcakes look amazing. I tried your mexican tart recipe for Valentine’s Day, big hit with the hubby. I have a feeling this recipe will be too. Thanks for sharing!
Reply
yay!!! \o/
Reply
Oooooh, these look delicious! I can’t wait to try it!
Reply
I LOVE and ADORE your cupcakes! I would love to try to make some soon for a bachelorette party, and wouldn’t these utensils be a nice way to do it! Or else, I’m going to throw myself an “I’m single but still need to stock up on kitchen gadgets” shower.
Reply
My tiny kitchen would love these measuring cups
Reply
Hey Lindsey,
Another recipe that looks amazing, if only I had more time to cook.
It will have to go on the list though of things to try!
Reply
Those look divine and I would LOVE to win the gift set!
Reply
Facebook’ed! Heck it don’t matter if I win or lose. I like telling people about your blog and the neat things you do with cupcakes :)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/profile.php?id=536423889
Reply
Honey and Chocolate sounds like a great combination! I’ll definitely try these out! And those baking supplies? Completely adorable. I’d love a set of those for my kitchen! Thanks so much for everything you do on your blog! You’re definitely one of my inspirations.
Reply
Wow! these sound amazing and look so Spring-y!
I never would have thought of putting honey and chocolate together. I’m definitely trying them. :)
Reply
After a long holiday season that felt more like a two-month-long cupcake and cookie binge, I needed a break. But I think that break will be coming to an end. Must try this recipe!
Reply
I looove honey. Delicious looking! (And delicious tasting, I’m sure!)
Reply
I’m a Tennessean too, and yes, our honey is to die for!
Reply
Sounds absolutely delightful! A great spring treat! And what fun and colorful mixing and measuring utensils!
Reply
LOVE the colorful cookware!
Can’t wait to try the yummy cupcakes.
Reply
Oh yum, maybe I’ll try it with almonds! I wonder how you could use the honey method in more of a muffin? I bet it’d be delicious!
Reply
Soo cute! These recipes are like torture for my pregnant cravings!
Reply
The boyfriend LOVES honey; I’ll have to make these for him!!
Reply
RT at http://twitter.com/pokeleana =D
Reply
I’m going to make those cupcakes RIGHT NOW. That fact that it’s 9:30am won’t stop me.
Reply
Can’t wait to try the recipe! They look SO yummy!
Reply
Those cupcakes are super cute! And I wouldn’t mind those prizes either!
Reply
YUMMO! These look delicious!!!!!!!
Reply
I would never thought of using Olive Oil for Cupcakes, or baking for that matter. Looking forward to trying the recipe. Thank you.
Reply
I’m the biggest Chef’n fan girl and that bake set looks ah-mazing!
And your cupcakes look so pretty. I’ve never considered the chocolate/honey combination, but now I definitely am!
Reply
This Recipe looks amazing, a friend of mine just forwarded me a link to your website and i am in love with everything your doing…..so so so great.
Reply
Those cupcakes look awesome. I’ll have to make some minus the peanuts (but I do agree cake is cake xD).
Reply
Yum!! A delicious cupcakes (I’m making tonight) AND a give away!! Yay! Off to the store!
Reply
There is nothing that says “Spring” like farmer’s market honey! These look delicious! (As does the giveaway!)
Reply
Chocolate and honey-what a perfect combination. I’m going to try this with a mild olive oil (there are even books about baking with it, and so far it has been yummy), and some whole wheat pastry flour.
The Chef’n things sound great too!
Reply
Hey Lindsay, I’m a new reader and I made your Raspberry Truffle Cupcakes over the weekend (except I used black raspberry, and made raspberry vanilla buttercream instead of ganache) and they are totally amazing! Love your blog; thanks for all the new ideas!
Reply
Yummy Cupcakes :)
Reply
Just ordered the silicone flower molds from another cupcake you made. Great ideas and recipes!
Reply
Excellent!
Reply
These look delicious! I never thought of trying honey.
Reply
These cupcakes look sooooo good! And I love Chef’n products!!
Reply
tweeted @ http://twitter.com/Marthe79
Reply
cupcake looks great, yummmmmm
Reply
This recipe looks amazing, and I cannot wait to try it! I just made your Chocolate Amaretto butter cream cupcakes for a birthday this weekend and they were a huge hit. Just discovered your site and can’t wait to try more!
Reply
What a wonderful give-away! I would love to receive this!
aly
Reply
We’ve been on a cupcake trip lately, can’t wait to try this recipe!
Reply
Woot woot! Sign me up. Awesome.
Reply
i love your site! I ‘ve already made one of your recipes(almond cupcakes)!!
Reply
Honey cupcake? Sounds delicious! :)
Reply
Can’t wait to try these amazing cupcake recipes! Thanks for sharing!
Reply
I also tweeted about this! http://twitter.com/AdrieneTweets
Reply
I love your recipes and have shared your blog with many friends – cooks and non-cooks alike.
Reply
These look delicious! I’m so glad I came across your blog, I love chef’n!
Reply
Two of my favorite things…chocolate and honey…can’t wait to try these cupcakes..they look so good!!
Reply
Your cupcakes look fabulous, and I really would like to win your giveaway.
Reply
!!!
Reply
OhBoy—those look REALLY Yummy….and the CupCakes do too!
Reply