Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a while. I went on spring break and didn't have access to the Internet for almost 2 weeks and then life happened. But enough excuses! My mom's birthday was yesterday, so I made her cupcakes. I was going to make these chocolate mint cupcakes over the holidays but ended up not having time to make them, so I made them now. 

The chocolate cupcake was very light, moist, and tasted amazing, especially with the mint melt-away inside the cupcake. The frosting was not too sweet and it didn't taste like a mouthful of sugar. The peppermint extract in the frosting tied everything together and the presentation was stunning. Next time, I would like to add two mint melt-aways to have more of a filling in the middle. 

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes. Recipe for cupcakes from Food & Wine. 

Makes frosting for about 12 cupcakes. Frosting recipe from Lauren's Lastest blog.

Cupcake Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup water

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

12 or 24 mint melt-aways

Cupcake Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper or foil liners. 

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter with the vegetable oil and water over low heat. 

In a large bowl, sift the flour with the sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the melted butter mixture and beat with a handheld mixer (I didn't read ahead and just used a regular spoon) at low speed until smooth. Add the egg and beat until incorporated, then add the buttermilk and vanilla and beat until combined, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl. 

Pour the batter into the lined muffin tins, filling them about three-fourths of the way. Place 1 or 2 mint melt-aways in each cupcake gently. Add a little more batter to make sure the melt-away is covered. 

Bake the cupcakes in the oven for about 25 minutes, until springy and a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool slightly before transferring them to a cooling rack. Frost the cupcakes with peppermint frosting if desired (recipe below). 

Frosting Ingredients

1/2 cup softened butter

1/4 cup cocoa powder sifted

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-3 tablespoons of milk

Peppermint extract to taste

Frosting Instructions

In a large bowl, whip the butter and cocoa powder together until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and powdered sugar. Slowly stream in milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add peppermint extract one drop at a time until the frosting is at the desired minty level. Whip again until light, fluffy, and smooth. Frost the cupcakes as much as you want and however you want to. 

I put the frosting into a Ziploc bag, cut a hole, and frosted the cupcakes that way. It was so much easier than spooning it on and it looked so much nicer as well.