Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes
The holidays bring with them so many fantastically delicious flavors! One of my favorites has always been chocolate and peppermint. I love how the chocolate adds such a sweet and bitter flavor, and then the peppermint follows up with a cool, refreshing blast. Not to mention the fact that studies have shown that the combination of chocolate and peppermint boosts brain activity and alertness. (I therefore always give chocolate and peppermint candies to my students during finals) A while ago though, I started looking for something different than all the pre-packaged chocolate and peppermint candies, cookies and other items. I thought it would be fun to put the flavor combo into a cupcake instead. Thus, this recipe was born!
The chocolate cake recipe that I use is the same all-purpose chocolate cake I use in general. It’s such a great recipe that it can’t be beat. I actually made a video on my YouTube channel about it if you’d like to check it out. https://youtu.be/0kHqiz-aGRU There’s also a blog post on this website with the recipe by itself. https://www.bluewizardfood.com/blog/favoritechocolatecake Just in case you’d like to use it for some other application.
I used holiday paper liners for these cupcakes. These had me worried from the start because, generally speaking, designs on paper liners don’t hold up well to chocolate cake. The darkness of the cake always overpowers the design. I have to say, however, that these liners from Gifbera actually held up very well. They are not sponsoring me in any way, but I was so impressed by how well they worked out, that I figured I’d share. When you’re filling up your muffin tins with the batter, you should look for a container with a spout. This is a very thin cake batter and so having that little bit of extra control is helpful. Also, I ended up filling these 3/4 of the way up, which is higher than normal. I know this recipe makes 24 cupcakes, so what I usually do is start by filling up the wells 2/3 of the way and then add from there until they’re all even. It works out pretty well.
After the cupcakes are baked, it is vitally important that they be cooled well. I start by cooling them in the pan for about 10 minutes. Fresh out of the oven, cakes can be a little fragile, so letting them cool in the pan for a little bit helps you to avoid smooshing them when you try to remove them. After that 10 minutes, I remove them from the pan and allow them to cool on a rack until they come to room temperature. This is an incredibly important step. If the cupcakes are even a little bit warm, they will melt the frosting, which would be sad. Being an incredibly impatient person, I usually end up sticking the rack in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes to cool them down enough. Works like a charm!
While you’re waiting for your cupcakes to cool, you can make your peppermint buttercream. This is based on an American buttercream. This is the easiest of the buttercreams, which is why it tends to be my favorite. You just need to dump in the ingredients and start beating it with an electric mixer. One tip I have though is to beat it on a medium speed for about 2-3 minutes after the ingredients have all incorporated. This will add more air into your frosting and make it nice and light and fluffy!
I use a piping bag to frost my cupcakes, but this is unnecessary. You could easily just spread some frosting on top with a spatula or butter-knife. I just happen to like the fancy decoration on cupcakes, and I feel like you get more frosting this way! I use a star shaped tip in a spiral pattern (demonstrated in the video) because I like that it makes lots of nooks and crannies for the crushed up candy canes to get stuck into. Speaking of candy canes, that’s what this recipe ends off with. I crushed up some candy canes and sprinkled them on top, like candy cane snow! If you’re making these sometime of the year when candy canes are not an option, then just use those red and white spiral peppermint candies. They are, after all, the same candy in a different shape.
These cupcakes are something that I personally look forward to every holiday season. I know that they’ll become a favorite for you as well, especially if you love that singularly holiday flavor combo as much as I do!
Remember, you don’t have to be a professional to make magic in your kitchen!
Joe the Blue Wizard
Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (220 g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (240 mL) water
- 1/3 cup (33 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp (2 g) instant espresso powder
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (400 g) sugar
- 1 tsp (6 g) baking soda
- 1 tsp (6 g) kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (120 mL) buttermilk
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla extract
- 4 sticks (450 g) unsalted butter
- 6 cups (720 g) powdered sugar
- 1-2 tsp. (5-10 mL) peppermint extract
- 2 pinches salt
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) milk
- 6 candy canes, crushed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.
- Add in water, espresso powder and cocoa powder and stir to combine. Increase heat to high and boil for 30 seconds.
- Remove from heat and set aside
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
- Whisk together in a small bowl eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.
- Add chocolate mix to the flour mix and stir to combine. Then add the buttermilk mixture and stir well to combine.
- Divide batter evenly into 2 12-cup muffin tins which have been lined with the paper liners of your choice.
- Bake on middle rack for 20 minutes rotating the pans halfway through cooking. A toothpick inserted into a center cupcake should come out clean.
- Allow cupcakes to begin cooling in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the pans and set to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Beat together all ingredients, except for candy canes, with an electric mixer starting on low speed and working your way up to high.
- Beat until combined, light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes)
- Pipe or spread peppermint icing onto the completely cooled cupcakes.
- Top with crushed candy canes.
- Enjoy!
