Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

I have a friend who is moving. When people move, and you love them, I think you should bake them things. So I did. I decided on Mint Chocolate Cupcakes. I used a chocolate cupcake recipe that I already love and then made some minor adjustments to a mint-chocolate icing that I found on the internet. They were pretty and yummy. I will be making these again!

Here is the Recipe

Cupcakes

1 Box devil's food or any chocolate cake mix

8 oz Sour Cream

1 Small package instant chocolate pudding mix

4 eggs (Yikes!)

8 oz milk (Whole is best. What? I never said these were low fat!)

½ Cup Vegetable Oil
½ Bag of Mint Choc Chips (about 5 oz)
 

1. Preheat Oven to 350
 

2. Mix all ingredients except the Mint Chips. because you do not have butter and sugar to cream, order does not really matter. If using a stand mixer, I use a low-medium. It is fast enough to incorporate a little air, but won't throw your mix everywhere.  

3. After all ingredients are fully incorporated, fold in the mint chips
 

4. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full

5. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

 

Frosting (Adjusted from this recipe from My Baking Addiction) 

4 sticks (2 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature
1.5 pounds (28 ounces) confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons heavy cream
green food coloring
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
3 ounces semi sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
mini chocolate chips

Just a head's up...after mixing the first few ingredients, you will split the frosting into two parts.

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes or until creamy.

2.Turn the mixer down and slowly add in the confectioners' sugar until it is completely incorporated. Add in vanilla and heavy cream. Turn the mixer back up to medium-high speed and beat the mixture for about 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy.

4. Remove half of the frosting from the mixer bowl and set aside. Add 2 drops of green dye to the remaining frosting and mix in to fully incorporate the dye. Slowly add more, if needed, to get a nice minty green color. Stir in peppermint extract. Taste and add extract to your taste.

5. Remove the mint frosting from the mixing bowl and set aside.  Add the other half of the frosting back into the bowl of your stand mixer. Add in the cooled, melted chocolate and cocoa powder. Mix until fully incorporated.




I borrowed this pictured from Martha Stewart. She has a tutorial on her site.

6. For the two-toned effect, I put each icing into a piping bag and then piped them into one icing bag next to each other rather than on top of each other.
(See Picture)

7. Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and garnish with mini chocolate chips.


These cupcakes sounded like alot of work but really were not too bad and turned out so cute and Yummy.