These Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes satisfy all the cravings. Salty, crunchy, sweet, creamy, and they're real pretty too. These cupcakes are made from fluffy vanilla cupcakes filled with strawberry jam and swirled with creamy peanut butter frosting.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes, one cupcake shown with a bite taken out of it, jelly center showing.

Ingredients for Vanilla Cupcake

The below ingredients are all simple and easy to find!

· Sunflower oil

· Extra-large eggs

· Granulated white sugar

· Self-raising flour

· Salt

· Whole milk

· Vanilla extract

Ingredients for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

Self-raising flour - To save time, I prefer using self-raising flour. If you don't have self-raising flour you can make your own by combining all-purpose flour and baking powder.

Sunflower oil - Sunflower oil is a type of vegetable oil and is great to use in bakes as a substitute for butter. It ensures a light and moist cake. All vegetable oils have different properties and therefore tastes so be sure to pick sunflower oil when making this cake batter.

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Frosting and Jam filling

The most important trick to remember when making any frosting is that the ingredients must be at room temperature.

· Jam, choose strawberry or raspberry

· Confectioners' sugar

· Unsalted butter

· Cream cheese

· Peanut butter

Unsalted butter - I prefer using unsalted butter for all of my frostings. For this recipe, in particular, be very careful of using salted butter and then choosing a peanut butter that already has salt in it as you could end up with a frosting that is just too salty.

Cream cheese - There are lots of different brands of cream cheese, I usually use Philadelphia cream cheese when making frostings. It has great taste and consistency.

Peanut butter - So many options, right?! But when it comes to picking a peanut butter for frostings, choose something that is unsalted and without any added sugar. Also smooth is better than crunchy for piping reasons, crunchy peanut butter can get stuck in your piping nozzle. So depending on how you'd like to decorate these cupcakes, smooth might be best!

It is very important that you choose unsweetened and unsalted peanut butter. This frosting is sweet enough so the additional sugar and salt are just unnecessary so opt for natural peanut butter when choosing a brand.

How to Make Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

Start by making the cupcakes, then while they are baking make the frosting.

Method for Vanilla Cupcakes

Step 1

Add the oil, eggs, and sugar to a bowl of a stand mixer and beat at medium speed until well combined.

Step 2

Sift together the dry ingredients, the flour, and salt, then add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Step 3

Add the vanilla to the milk in a jug, and with the motor of the electric mixer running on low speed, pour the milk into the cake batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again to ensure the cupcake batter is lump-free.

Step 4

Line 2 cupcake trays with paper cupcake liners and fill them ¾ of the way with the cupcake batter. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 12 minutes then remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool on a wire rack.

Steps showing how to make Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

Method for Peanut Butter Buttercream

Since frostings that include cream cheese can be quite tricky, I have written an entire post on how to get them right! So, for a step-by-step explanation, this post on Peanut Butter and Cream Cheese Frosting is a must-read.

Step 1

Whip the butter until it is white using an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, and then add the icing sugar and mix again.

Step 2

Change the mixer's attachment to a paddle attachment, add the cubed cream cheese, and beat again until well incorporated.

Step 3

Add the vanilla and peanut butter and beat again at high-speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix again for about 5 minutes at high speed until light and fluffy.

Step 4

Fill one piping bag with the peanut butter and cream cheese frosting and fill another piping bag with the strawberry jelly. Use an apple corer or cupcake corer to remove the center of the cupcake. Fill the center with jam and then pipe a swirl of peanut butter frosting onto each cupcake. Serve and enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes are shown before decorating, unfrosted cupcakes and two piping bags. One with jelly and one with peanut butter frosting

Top Tips for the Best Results

1. Use an oven thermometer to measure the true temperature of your oven and adjust the suggested temperature accordingly.

2. Use room temperature ingredients, this is especially important for the frosting. If the butter and cream cheese are not at room temperature expect a runny and lumpy frosting.

3. Choose smooth, unsalted, and unsweetened peanut butter for this recipe.

4. Allow the cupcakes to cool properly before frosting them, warm cupcakes will heat the icing and then cupcakes won't look great!

5. Make sure the frosting has beaten enough before filling a piping bag, the icing must be fluffy so that it is easier to pipe onto the cupcakes.

6. When using an apple corer to remove the center of the cupcake, don't twist the corer all the way to the bottom.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes shown next to each other

This is the ultimate peanut butter and jelly celebration if you love PB. If you are looking for other cupcake recipes try out these Chocolate and Salted Caramel Cupcakes or these Funfetti and Marshmallow Frosting Cupcakes.

Let me know if you gave these delicious cupcakes a try by leaving a comment below or getting in touch on Instagram.

Happy Baking

With Love,

Kitty