Love and Olive Oil

Chocolate Honey Cupcakes with Roasted Peanuts

Chocolate Peanut Honey Cupcakes with Honey Vanilla Buttercream

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

Chocolate Honey Cupcakes with Roasted Peanuts and Honey Vanilla Buttercream

Makes 12 cupcakes.

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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 ground

For 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 extract

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin pan with paper liners.
  2. 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).
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
All images and text © / Love & Olive Oil

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446 Comments

  1. Thanks for the recipe and giveaway!

  2. Yummy cupcakes! I use honey often, but have never considered buying some from my farmers’ market because of cost–however this Sunday I will and am sure it will be worth it!

  3. Thanks everyone for all the lovely compliments about our products. We’re very much looking forward to awarding the prize! We’ll keep our fingers crossed for everyone :)

    Thanks for this opportunity Lindsay!

  4. love the blog! have tried many of the recipes of my roommates. we are all devoted readers!

  5. Mmmm cupcakes! :)

  6. I’m excited to try baking these at 9,600 feet:)

  7. Looks so delicious.

  8. Love, love, LOVE this blog. Thanks for sharing!

  9. I LOVE your non dairy recipes! Will try this for sure.

  10. How exciting!

  11. Plus I tweeted about your cupcakes!

    http://twitter.com/chicubsgirl81

  12. wow-these cupcakes look delicious! I’m going to have to give them a shot-maybe this weekend!

  13. Long time lurker – I’ve always admired this blog for the photographs and the inspirational recipes.

  14. These sound great and I have some honey my Dad made that will be perfect. I’m still not over how delicious those blood orange cupcakes were. Everyone at my office loved them!

  15. new to your site…look forward to trying some recipes!

  16. Love the colors!

  17. cupcakes look great, and giveaways are nice too!

  18. Nice giveaway! I have been eyeing these collapsing spoons for EVER. Would love to win!
    Thanks!

  19. Thanks for hosting the giveaway! By the way, I tried your Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcakes over the weekend and became addicted! So delicious.

  20. YESS! Those cupcakes look divine!

  21. the cupcakes and bowls/measuring cups/spatulas look cute!!!

  22. What an awesome and colorful set–I must say, it was that “pour spout” on the side of the bowls that really got me. I’m already dreaming of pouring batter into a pan DRIP-FREE :) thanks for the contest!

  23. They look delicious! Every time I taste a delicious honey, I think “I want to meet the bees.” These would be no exception! Anyway, here’s to decreasing the odds for everyone else. Thanks!

  24. These cupcakes look delicious – as do all things on your blog! (and, so excited about the chef’n giveaway – I’ve been loving the teal measuring spoons as well!)

  25. I recently bought 3 different kinds of honey from a farmer’s market and have been scouring the internet for unique recipes – this is absolutely perfect! I was also going to ask you where the measuring cups came from until I saw the giveaway – I think I have to order a dozen different things now!

  26. These cupcakes look amazing! I love your blog. I made your Peanut Butter Patties this weekend and they have been a big hit!

  27. the cupcakes look delicious and the gift set is so cute!

  28. Yum! These look beautiful!

  29. these look so yummy!!!
    cant wait to make them!

  30. Here is my tweet:
    http://twitter.com/Saltwater425/status/10246647610

    Also, I think these would be delicious with honey-roasted peanuts…

  31. I am going to be so surprised if I win this…But here goes!!

  32. Cute set!

  33. I baked these earlier today….So yummy!!

  34. Love your website! That chocolate cupcake is to die for!!

  35. Would love to give this gift to my lovely sister beth who i am visiting on my birthday in april……………….:-)

  36. Can’t wait for the baby to start sleeping more, so I can get some baking done. Hope I win the giveaway!

  37. Lovin’ all those colors!!! Thanks for the opportunity.

  38. Oh my goodness. Chocolate + Honey sounds divine. :) Beautiful cupcakes!!!

  39. looks awesome! I ate PB&Honey sandwiches instead of PB&J when I was a kid too! Favorite snack ever… yum!

  40. Those cupcakes look scrumptious! I cannot wait to try out the recipe!

  41. oh my, I could really use those collapsible measuring cups. My baking drawer would thank you!

  42. Looks…sweeeet!!!

  43. Oh those look yummy!!!

  44. I love those measuring cups!! And I love these honey peanut cupcakes…definitely have to try them out soon.

  45. Can’t wait to try this one!

  46. I’m always excited when I see a new blog entry in my google reader! Thanks for all the great recipes and ideas!

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