I saw this on Pinterest and thought they were really cute for Christmas.
Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa (best quality available)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (best quality available)
- 1 cup boiling water
Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup (1 stick, 8 Tablespoons) butter, at room temperature
- 6 oz cream cheese, at room temperature (about 3/4 of a regular block of cream cheese)
- 4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
- 1 tsp pure peppermint extract
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1-3 tsp heavy cream, heavy whipping cream (or milk- although I do like the richness that cream adds)
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.
- Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don’t worry, this is right).
- Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. (I usually put the batter into a large measuring cup with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.)
- Bake cupcakes for approximately 22-24 minutes.
- Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.
Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting
- Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.
- Add powdered sugar (a little at a time) and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.
- Add vanilla and peppermint extracts
- Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don’t add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)
- Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)
Notes
To achieve the red stripe in the frosting: Before filling a large piping bag with frosting, add some red gel food coloring to a toothpick, and draw two (vertical) lines with the red dye on the inside of the piping bag. Then carefully fill the piping bag with frosting. Squeeze some frosting into a bowl until you begin to see the red stripe, then frost the cupcakes.
Top cupcakes with some crushed candy canes (they will ”melt” after a bit, so they need to be served right away) or a small piece of peppermint bark (I used a little peppermint Andes candy).
