Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Girls, I have found it.

I have found what hormonal women the world over have been searching for since Eve first covered her bloated, belly-buttonless belly with an extra fig leaf.

I have found the cure for PMS.

The combination of this chocolate cake, which I turned into cupcakes, and this light, fluffy peanut butter frosting is freakishly good. The brewed coffee in the cake batter adds such richness and depth to the chocolate.

And, peanut butter frosting. Need I say more?

These little diddys have curing powers.

I'm just sayin'.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
recipes adapted from Beatty's Chocolate Cake and Kathleen's Peanut Butter Icing from Barefoot Contessa At Home...

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake pans with liners.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Pour the batter into the lined cupcake pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cupcakes spring back when touched in the middle. Remove from oven and allow them to cool before frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners' 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 eat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

Spread evenly onto cupcakes, keeping frosting from touching sides of cupcake liners.