Peppermint cupcakes recipe

These retro peppermint cupcakes will take you on a trip down memory lane this Christmas. Complete with homemade peppermint creams.

Make these festive peppermint cupcakes using After Eight mints. The soft dark chocolate sponge and rich dark chocolate buttercream pair perfectly together. Top each cupcake with homemade peppermint creams. This cupcake recipe serves 12.

Ingredients

• 110g unsalted butter
• 110g dark chocolate
• 10g coffee granules
• 60g self-raising flour
• 60g plain flour
• 10g cornflour
• 25g cocoa powder
• 1/4tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 240g caster sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 tsp vegetable oil
• 50ml buttermilk
• 80ml water
• 12 After Eight mints

For the buttercream:

• 100g 48% dark chocolate
• 125g unsalted butter chopped and at room temperature
• 140g icing sugar
• 1 ½ tsp of vanilla extract

For the sweet and snowflake toppers:

• 100g white fondant
• 50g royal icing sugar
• White edible glitter 
• Ice blue food colouring paste (we used Sugarflair's Ice Blue)
• Red food colouring paste (we used Sugarflair's Christmas Red)

For the peppermint creams (makes 30)

• 1 egg white
• 340g icing sugar
• Few drops of peppermint essence

You will also need:

• 12-hole deep muffin pan
• 12 cupcake cases
• Sweet cutter
• Snowflake cutter
• 3.5cm circular biscuit cutter
• Wilton 2A Tip
• Parchment piping bag for the sweets
• Large piping bag for the buttercream

Method

1. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment (non-stick baking sheet). Whisk the egg white lightly in a bowl until it is frothy but not stiff.
2. Sift the icing sugar into the bowl and then stir it into the egg white with a wooden spoon until the mixture is stiff.
3. Knead in the peppermint essence. Roll out the mixture with a rolling pin until it is 1/4inch thick and cut 12 small circles with the cutter. Leave to set for 24 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F/Gas Mark 3 and line your baking tray with paper cases.
5. Add butter, chopped chocolate, coffee and 80ml water in a large bowl over a pan of boiling water, stir gently until melted then remove from the heat and allow to cool
6. Sift flours, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into large bowl. Stir in sugar and make a well in the centre. Add the combined egg, oil and buttermilk and the chocolate mixture, stirring with a large spoon until completely combined.
7. Fill cupcake cases to 2/3 full and bake for 20 minutes. Pop the cupcakes onto a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Then, while they are still warm but not hot, use an apple corer to cut a hole in the centre of each cake, almost to the bottom. Bend an After Eight in half and pop in the hole, then place half of the scooped-out cake back in the hole to fill. Repeat for each cupcake.
8. To make the buttercream, melt the chocolate in the microwave on 30 second bursts until smooth. Add all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix with an electric whisk for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
9. Attach the tip to the piping bag. Pipe 1 plain ring onto the cupcake by applying pressure to the bag and, starting in the middle of the cake, pipe in a quick circular motion so you have a plain quite flat swirl.
10. When the peppermint creams are ready, add one to the top of the chocolate buttercream and decorate with a snowflake or sweets.
11. To make the snowflake, add a little ice blue food colour to 50g of the fondant. Roll it out to 1/4inch thick and use the snowflake cutter to cut out 6 snowflakes. Place these on the top of the peppermint creams.
12. To make the sweets, add a little red colour to 50g of white fondant, roll it out to 1/4inch thick and cut 6 sweet shapes. Then mix 50g of royal icing sugar and a few drops of water to make a paste thick enough to pipe. Add the paste to a parchment piping bag and snip off the end, then pipe spirals onto the sweets and a dot onto the triangle at either end.
13. When the icing has set, add the sweets to the top of the peppermint creams. Sprinkle with edible glitter.

Top tips for making peppermint cupcakes

Keep these cupcakes in an airtight container for up to three days. Make sure you keep them out of the heat as the peppermint will become moist and sticky.

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