Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Because what's more Christmassy than chocolate and peppermint? Nothing, obviously. There is no other significance to the holiday. None.

Cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

14 tbsp (1 3/4 sticks) of butter

1 cup + 2/3 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla paste

1 tbsp peppermint extract

4 eggs, separated

3/4 cup milk

1 bag miniature chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Beat butter until fluffy, then add 1 cup sugar and the vanilla and peppermint. Mix well. Add the egg yolks one at a time.

Alternate in the flour mixture and the milk until just combined.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Remember that the bowl should be metal or plastic and no yolk may touch the whites or they will not beat properly. Slowly add in the 2/3 cup sugar in a stream and beat until stiff peaks form. The mixture will look like boiled frosting or meringue.

Gently fold the egg whites into the batter until smooth and pale. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. The cupcakes don't rise that much, surprisingly, so you'll want to adjust the amount of batter depending on how big you want them to be. I had to make another half batch after this one because I needed a certain number of cupcakes for an event, and the second batch I filled the tins much fuller. You can see the results in the split-decorated cupcakes, which were puffy enough to be cut in half and filled.

Bake for 10 minutes, turn, bake 12 minutes.

Let cool.

Makes 32 without the extra half batch.

Frosting:

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter

4-5 cups xxx sugar

3-4 tbsp heavy cream

1 tbsp peppermint extract

About 8 candy canes, crushed into a small pieces

Beat butter until soft and fluffy. Add xxx sugar and cream and beat until everything is well-combined and the cream has started to whip, making the icing extremely fluffy. Add in the peppermint.

Frost cupcakes generously, then roll the frosted part in the crushed candy canes. I did half my cupcakes this way, then ran out of candy canes, so if you want to use that approach get a few more candy canes. 

The other half I decorated with a junior mint candy and green & red sprinkles.

Recipe adapted from We Are Not Martha.

Mango Cupcakes with Seven-Minute Frosting

Mango Cupcakes with Seven Minute Frosting

These light and fruity cupcakes are super simple and perfect for summer!

Cupcakes:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cream
1 cup pureed mango
1/2 tsp ginger

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Sift in flour and baking powder. When well-combined, stir in 3/4 cup mango, ginger, and milk.

Fill baking cups about 2/3 full. Bake for 13 minutes, turn, bake 13 minutes. Let cool.

Makes 12.

Frosting:
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 egg whites
1/3 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice

Using a handheld mixer, mix all ingredients together in a stainless steel bowl. Place over a saucepan of boiling water to create a double boiler. Continue to mix for seven minutes, or until frosting forms stiff peaks. Add food color to taste.

Core your cupcakes using a small, serrated knife blade. Take the extra mango puree and gently spoon in enough to fill each cupcake.

Top with the frosting and add sprinkles if desired.

Voila!

Cupcakes adapted from The Foodie's Kitchen

Thin Mint Cupcakes

Thin Mint Cupcakes

Cupcakes:

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted

1 tbsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

5 egg whites

12 thin mint or other chocolate-mint cookies, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together flour and baking powder in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together one cup sugar and oil. Alternate whisking in the flour mixture and the milk. Add the vanilla, then the cookie pieces.

In a metal bowl, whip the egg whites until they are foamy. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar into the egg whites while continuing to beat them, until they form soft peaks -- if you lift the beater out of the bowl the egg whites should hold their shape. When they're ready, slowly fold them into the batter. You want to do this as gently as possible, and be careful not to over mix; the egg whites make the batter fluffy, but if you mix them in too hard it will negate the fluffiness.

Divide the batter into cupcake tins, filling them about 2/3 full. Bake for 10 minutes, turn tins, bake for another 10 minutes. Let cool.

Makes 24.

Ganache:

1 cup heavy cream

8 oz bittersweet chocolate

1 tbsp butter

Bring cream to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat, add chocolate and butter. Let sit for a little while, then whisk until smooth. Let cool.

Mint Icing:

1/4 cup flour

1 cup half-and-half cream

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp

1 cup superfine sugar (also sold as baker's sugar or extra fine sugar; you can make your own by putting regular sugar in a food processor)

2 tbsp Creme de menthe

Green food color

Sprinkles for decorating

Whisk the flour and cream together in a bowl over medium heat until it thickens. This happens fairly quickly, about five minutes. Move it to a container of some kind and put it in the fridge for about twenty minutes until cool.

Meanwhile, beat the sugar and butter together until fluffy. When the flour mixture is cool, whip it in until the icing is smooth. Add the Creme de menthe and food color.

To combine:

Using a spoon or spatula, spread about 2 tbsp of ganache on top of the cooled cupcakes.

Put the icing in a piping bag with a star tip and pipe a spiral of icing on top of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles and leftover thin mint cookies.

I'm not going to lie, I think these were some of the best cupcakes I have made so far in this project. The icing especially is totally amazing -- it has a wonderful airy texture but it tastes great, and it holds its shape perfectly, plus it really has no flavor until you add extracts or liqueurs to it so you can make it to go with any type of cupcake you want. I'm definitely going to be using the recipe again.

Adapted from Zoebakes.com

Brown Sugar Pound Cakes with Brown-Butter Spice Frosting

Brown Sugar Pound Cakes with Brown-Butter Spice Frosting

After doing a lot of complicated recipes in April, I wanted to start out with something nice and easy for May. Voila!

Cupcakes:

3 cups flour, sifted

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed

4 eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Whisk together flour and bp.

Cream butter until light and fluffy, then add brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Add flour alternating with buttermilk.

Fill cupcake tins 3/4 of the way full. I overfilled, and that was not a great life choice, since these rise outward rather than upward and you will end up with those giant cake rims overflowed on the pan.

Bake 14 minutes, turn tins, bake another 15 minutes. Let cool.

Makes between 24-30, depending on how full you fill tins.

Icing:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 cups xxx sugar, sifted

2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp cinnamon

Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it is brown and melted. Be careful, it burns easily -- I burned my first batch. Remove from heat, and strain into a mixing bowl to remove sediment.

Sift in sugar and spices. Add vanilla and milk, and beat until smooth and spreadable. If the icing is too thick, add more milk a little at a time. Use right away, as it sets up pretty quick.

I added the spices to this recipe because otherwise I think it can be somewhat bland. Cardamom is a huge favorite in our family, so I put in more of that than the other spices. You should definitely feel free to season this recipe to taste -- add spices you like, cut out ones you don't, and leave them out altogether if you'd prefer to have just the praline taste of the browned butter.

I only had 24 cupcakes because of overfilling the tins, and I ran out of icing, so you may want to make 1 1/2 recipes of the icing. You wouldn't think so, but sometimes Martha can lead you astray.

Both recipes adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.

Chocolate Porter Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Ganache and Baileys Irish Cream Frosting

Boondock Saintcakes
(Chocolate Porter Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Ganache and Baileys Irish Cream Frosting)

Cupcakes:
1 cup porter or stout (I used my sister's home-brewed coffee porter, which was excellent)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 F. Over medium heat, bring beer and butter to simmer. Whisk in cocoa powder until smooth (actually it doesn't get completely smooth, since the oil in the butter makes the cocoa powder "clump" somewhat) and remove from heat.

In another bowl, sift together flour, sugar, and baking soda. In a mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream until smooth. Add the chocolate mixture and beat until just combined. Add the dries and beat until just combined.

Divide batter into cupcake tin. Bake 10 minutes, turn, bake 10 minutes. Makes 24.

Irish Whiskey Ganache:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream
1 tbsp butter
2 tsp Irish whiskey

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it simmers -- there will be bubbles around the edge of the saucepan. Stir together chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl; you will probably have to make a double boiler to get the two to combine smoothly. Once smooth, add the butter, Baileys, and whiskey and stir until combined. Let cool.

Frosting:
6 cups xxx sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp.
8 tbsp Baileys Irish Cream

Cream the butter until it's pale and fluffy. Sift in the powdered sugar, then add the Baileys and beat until smooth. The icing will have a very pale brown color.


To complete:

Take the cooled cupcakes and cut a small hole in the center of each. I used a coring knife, as pictured. Fill the center holes with the ganache. There should be just enough -- I ran out on the last two and had to use some ganache I had saved from another recipe, so you may want to make your holes a little shallower or use less ganache. Or just make an oz more chocolate, it's pretty much up to you.

Using a piping bag, pipe the frosting onto the tops of the cupcakes to cover the holes and leave a little point on top. Filled cupcakes are better pipe than to spread, but you can always do that as well. I only had a little icing left over at the end. Decorate according to your preference.

WARNING: these cupcakes are very alcoholic and are almost 100% definitely unsuitable for kids.

All recipes from we are not martha

Buttermilk Funfetti Cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Frosting

Buttermilk Funfetti Cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Frosting

idk, I have an art show to go to to-morrow (I have three pieces in it) and they asked if the artists could bring food. I've been wanting to do something easy, especially since my sister is visiting this weekend and I think I'm going to try chocolate malted for her. So yeah.

Cupcakes:

4 1/2 cups flour, sifted
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup + 2 tbsp (2 1/4 sticks) butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 whole eggs + 3 egg yolks
2 cups buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
Rainbow sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Whisk together flour, bp, and bs. Set aside. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time; then add yolks, and beat until combined.

Add buttermilk and flour alternately. Add vanilla.

Add in the sprinkles last of all, and mix as little as possible. If you overmix, the color will bleed out of the sprinkles (this happened to me, sob).

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 of the way with batter. Bake 10 minutes, turn, bake another 10 minutes.
Note: this recipe makes a LOT of cupcakes. It claims 36, but I got a respectable 42, and I'm prone to overfilling the cups. If you're worried about having too many, definitely cut the recipe in half.

Frosting:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, soft.
2 cups xxx sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Milk if needed
Food color if desired

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Add vanilla. If the frosting is too thick, thin it a little with milk/cream -- just be careful to add the liquid in roughly 1 tbsp increments, because it's super easy to overdo it.

There was pretty much exactly enough icing for all the cupcakes in one batch, and I think I'm fairly liberal with icing, but if you are an icing lover you may want to add half again to this recipe.

As you can see, I colored mine. I use Wilton paste colors and I'll swear by them, but liquid food dyes certainly work fine as well.

As a final note, I swear this color is not brown. It's raspberry. It just didn't show up right in pictures at ALL.

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.