Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes
These are the second cupcakes that I took to our holiday potluck (and my second Cupcake Hero entry). They consist of a chocolate cupcake, white chocolate peppermint ganache filling, and peppermint Swiss meringue buttercream. They were delicious and in fact one person at the potluck said it was the best cupcake he’d ever had in his entire life. I think that’s a good compliment! This chocolate cupcake recipe could possibly be my new go-to chocolate cupcake recipe.. It comes together very easily and the addition of the coffee rounds out the chocolate flavor very well. I made a half batch and got 12 cupcakes. I scaled down the frosting recipe to 3/4 of the original recipe and it made the right amount of frosting for my 12 cupcakes (I put a lot on each one).
I got inspiration for these cupcakes from Fields of Cake and Other Good Stuff. I saw these in my Google Reader and knew I had to try them. They definitely did not disappoint. To make the stripes in the frosting, I painted the inside of the piping bag, similar to how I did for the Peppermint Chocolate Meringue Cookies. I also made my filling the day before I filled the cupcakes, so all of the candy canes dissolved and mixed completely into the white chocolate.
Dark Chocolate Cake – from Allrecipes.com – makes 24 cupcakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup cold brewed coffee
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vinegar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the eggs, coffee, milk, oil and vinegar. Mix until smooth, batter will be thin. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes (for the cupcakes, I baked them about 22 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.
White Chocolate Peppermint Ganache – from Fields of Cake and Other Good Things
14 ounces white chocolate chopped into 1/4 inch pieces (best you can afford…look for cocoa butter in the ingredients)
2/3 cup heavy cream
8 candy canes crushed
Place white chocolate in medium heat proof bowl. Heat heavy cream in small pot until ALMOST to a boil, immediately pour over the chocolate. Allow to sit for 5 minutes then stir until smooth. Allow to cool. When it has cooled, add the crushed candy canes and fold in.
If you want it to be crunchy, use within the day. If you want it to have some liquid pockets allow it to age a day or two (in the fridge of course). You can bring it back to room temperature before using again.
Mint Swiss Meringue Buttercream – from How to Eat a Cupcake
4 egg whites
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons peppermint extract (more if you like it really minty)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Put egg whites and sugar in a double boiler over simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 160 degrees).
Pour heated egg mixture into a clean bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 8 minutes (It’s very important to beat it for the whole 8 minutes).
Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter several tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. (If frosting appears soupy or separated after all butter has been added, beat on medium-high speed until smooth again, 3 to 5 minutes more.)
Beat in extracts. Reduce speed to low; beat 2 minutes to eliminate air bubbles. Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Yum that looks delicious and welcome back to my hometown! Cincinnati’s actually a great town that grows on you and has been evolving quite a bit in the time that you’ve been away. I suspect given your profession and work location history that we probably work for the same company as our day jobs ;).
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 8:30 am
Yes, Cincinnati has changed a LOT since we moved away in 2007.
I would suspect you’re right. There’s enough info to know where I work, especially if you work here too 😉 Going to go check out your blog now. I would love to meet some other Cincinnati area bloggers!
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 8:31 am
Ok I work for the *other* big company in town (just checked your About page).
Isn’t the KA ice cream attachment the best thing ever? I am always making ice cream, even in the wintertime, but I never thought of using canned coconut milk as the base. I’ll have to try this out soon!
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 11:37 am
Absolutely. I didn’t think I could love my KAM any more than I already did. The ice cream attachment proved that I can.
I have lots of cans of coconut milk laying around and I know they make a good ice cream! Adding this one to my list 🙂
I bought myself KA ice creamer maker for my birthday this summer and I adore it! I’ve been thinking about making non-dairy ice creams, but the recipes all sounded strange. It’s great to see a recipe from a trusted source. Can’t wait to try.
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 10:28 pm
Let me know what you think if you try it. I am going to be experimenting with different milks since I can’t have cow’s milk…
love coconut milk based ice creams!! this one looks fabulous, and good call throwing in those oreos 😉
beantownbaker — January 24th, 2013 @ 12:05 pm
It’s ALWAYS a good idea to throw oreos in 🙂
My brother’s favorite thing to get at Coldstone is chocolate oreo ice cream. Too bad I don’t have an ice cream maker, or I would definitely try this!
beantownbaker — January 29th, 2013 @ 7:51 am
I’ve been told you can make ice cream without an ice cream maker. I never tried it before I got mine though…
I just made your recipe and luckily I tasted it before I cooled it. The ratio of sugar to cocoa powder is off. You should use at least twice the amount of sugar to cocoa powder in order for it not to have a horribly bitter taste. After adding more sugar it had a nice sweet to chocolately balance. Thanks for the recipe, my daughter is lactose intolerant and she will enjoy it.
beantownbaker — January 31st, 2013 @ 2:03 pm
I am glad you were able to adjust this recipe to suit your needs. Hubby and I both enjoyed the sweetness level of this recipe. I’m sure different cocoa powders have different levels of sweetness. I plan to try this recipe without the cocoa powder to make vanilla ice cream too. We loved the creaminess of it!
This look yummy and chocolate ice cream is one of my favorite. Thanks for sharing the directions and ingredients.
I just opened a can of coconut milk and it looked extremely curdled. I shook it a lot but it was still completely curdled. Is that how coconut milk is supposed to be out of the can? Are there any brands that you specifically like to use?
beantownbaker — April 24th, 2013 @ 1:44 pm
Hm. It doesn’t usually look curdled, more just separated. Did you try shaking it up? I use Native Forest since that’s what they sell in my grocery store. It looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/Native-Forest-Organic-Classic-13-5-Ounce/dp/B001HTJ2BQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366829034&sr=8-1&keywords=coconut+milk
Oh how I wish I could try this.. I am currently gluten and dairy free.. However this being dairy free is is not gluten free with the oreo’s… Bummer!!
beantownbaker — October 23rd, 2013 @ 12:28 am
I’ve made this recipe again without the Oreos and it’s really good. Not quite as good as with the Oreos, but if you wanted to make it gluten free, just leave them out.
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