Peppermint mocha cupcakes with peppermint frosting
2 Dec
Welcome to December and holiday baking! I’ve set myself with the task of 3 Cupcake Fridays of holiday-themed cupcakes, and to kick it off I have these chocolate-meets-mint bits of goodness.
I took inspiration from Bakers Royale’s Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes, and combined it with the new chocolate dipping technique I learned from Not So Humble Pie. My goal was to have something refreshingly minty–without venturing into the realm of toothpaste–and wonderfully chocolatey.
Moving forward, I think I’m going to stop writing the cupcake postmortems on Mondays, and instead leave my thoughts on the process, flavor, snafus, etc., in the comments section. I know most food bloggers add their commentary along with the recipe in their original posts, but I don’t want to influence the opinions of my taste testers. Instead, I want them to be able to analyze the cupcake, read the ingredients and then give me their unbiased feedback. It’ll be good.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks toward the center. Melt the semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl covered with parchment paper.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa in a bowl; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until fluffy.
Add sugar and beat for an additional 5 minutes.
Add the eggs, then add the melted semi-sweet chocolate (cooled slightly), mixing well to incorporate.
On low speed, add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
Add the brewed espresso and peppermint extract, mixing until just combined.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, checking for doneness with a toothpick
For the frosting, beat the butter in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until fluffy.
Add 1 cup of sugar gradually, beating until combined. Add the peppermint extract and cream, then add the remaining sugar in 1/2 cup increments.
For the chocolate dip, put the chocolate chips and oil/shortening in a microwave-safe dish covered with parchment paper and microwave in 30 second increments until melted. Set aside and let cool slightly (if this cools too much and begins to harden, microwave it for 15 seconds).
For the candy cane garnish, put the candy canes into a bag and crush them with a rolling pin. You don't want to completely pulverize them, but chunks should be about a 1/4 inch or less.
To assemble, pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes, then freeze for 30 minutes until firm.
Working with one cupcake at a time, dip the top of the cupcake into the chocolate, submerging the top (but avoid getting the cupcake wrapped all chocolatey).
Once dipped, turn upright immediately and sprinkle on candy cane garnish.
Put back in the freezer for 5 minutes to set the cupcake.
Okay, that peppermint mocha cupcake was crazy-good! People would line up around the block to buy one. Perfect for this time of year. Again, your cake was perfect: moist, flavorful, balanced, not overly sweet and held together well. The mocha hit was splendid. Then the frosting with crushed peppermint was inspired and complimented the cake perfectly. It was also a gorgeous cake!
All it took was one bite of this and … I had the sensation of standing on a chocolate mountain as a cool breeze of peppermint takes my breath away.
So, yeah, I liked this one a lot!
Cake nice & moist & not too sweet, BTW, which is very nice.
Remember that time when our lovely baker made heaven and called it peppermint icing? Praise Odin, the icing on this bad boy is some of the best I’ve ever had. I do have a particular fondness for peppermint, but wow it’s just lighting up my tastebuds. The mix of the mocha chocolate flavor and the peppermint is superb. This is in my top 5, maybe top 3 Cupcake Friday installments fo’ sheezy. Amazing job.
Holy shit, Melissa. THIS CUPCAKE IS AWESOME.
AWESOME!!
… and so stinkin’ cute!
Enjoyed it a lot, and I had my ~3 days later on Monday.
FROSTING: Very good, good texture and flavor
CAKE: Was good! A little dry, but not bad. Maybe because mine was a little older?
THING ON TOP: I don’t know what it was, but I ate it and loved it!
MINT FLAVORING: Very well done! Very cool (like texturally, not as in figurative hipness), and tasty. Also the texture was very good, 1000 times better than the mint whoopie pies from way back.
OVERALL: Pretty good! Definitely a little different, which is always good. Would eat again!
This cupcake single handedly got me in the holiday spirit. Delicious and so seasonally appropriate! The mount of chocolate covered icing sort of reminded me of a Mallomar. It was like eating a cupcake/candy hybrid. The mint wasn’t too overpowering, but it definitely kept from me noticing any nuance in the cake portion of the cupcake. ADORABLE presentation. Perfect for Christmas! Definitely one of my favorites.
These were baller. Is that a word people use for good things? I don’t know the slangs. These were good things.
We had ours a day later so they were sitting in the fridge for a bit, and although we let them thaw, it probably wasn’t enough. The frosting remained solid and a bit tacky, more like a marshmallow than frosting, although this ended up working with the mocha-and-peppermint hot chocolate thang. The cocoa and espresso really popped for me, while the peppermint did its thing and kept you awake. Definitely a solid holiday choice.
For me, I think I hit the frosting out of the park. Light, pepperminty…it was perfect.
I had some issues with the cake. Not 100% sure why they didn’t bake up higher, but the flavor was there. I think I just need to visit the recipe and rebalance the fats, liquids and flour.
I had fun making the chocolate dip and liked the effect it achieved. So for me, this is definitely a cupcake to make again and perfect.
I read this website and got so excited that I drop kicked my dog!