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Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Chocolate Mint Chip Cupcakes

71 voters decided that the Chocolate Mint Chip Cupcake was the loser who deserved to be a winner! I'm happy to say that it was a great choice (even though I voted for coconut). The cupcake is delicious, and the smooth minty Swiss meringue buttercream is the PERFECT frosting for these! While browsing in the baking aisle at the grocery store, I came across Andes mint baking chips. Ya know those yummy chocolate mints you get with your bill at Olive Garden? Well it's a whole bag of them all chopped up! They are such a great addition sprinkled on top of the cupcakes.



ingredients perfectly domed cupcakes cooling Chocolate Mint Chip Cupcake w/ Mint SMBC & Andes Mint Chips!!
If you like Chocolate Mint Chip ice cream you will LOVE this cupcake. It tastes exactly like it! Mine came out a little dry because my Wilton cupcake pans are rebels, and they like to cook things super fast. Here's the recipe (from Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castella), so get in the kitchen and start baking!

MY NOTES: I used plain whole milk instead of chocolate milk. I only got 16 cupcakes filled 2/3 full. Mine were done at 13 minutes.

Chocolate Mint Chip Cupcakes
Makes 18-20 (like I said, I only got 16...)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup (2 ounces) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped, melted
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup chocolate milk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup (6 ounces) mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
2. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Beat the melted chocolate into the butter mixture. Add the eggs, peppermint extract, and chocolate milk. Beat until creamy.
3. In a separate medium-sized bowl combine the flour and baking soda.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture and beat until well blended (DO NOT OVER BEAT). With a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3-3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pan.

Mint Swiss Meringue Buttercream (my own recipe)

Makes about 3 cups - enough to frost 12 cupcakes

3 egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. 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).
2. 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 6 minutes (It's very important to beat it for the whole 6 minutes).
3. 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.)
4. Beat in extracts. Reduce speed to low; beat 2 minutes to eliminate air bubbles. Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth.

24 comments:

Heather said...

Just, wow.

Bianca said...

I voted Coconut too but this was my second choice and they look awesome.

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh! These sound so yummy!

Angel of mercy said...

hello !
i like your blog about chocolate and wanna share with you one of my blogs if you wanna visit it :
http://chocolate--recipes.blogspot.com
see ya there

shannie cakes said...

my partner loves mint chocolate, i'll have to try these out for him sometime soon, they look delish.

i know a few people who hate mint chocolate-- that is something i will never understand.

Anonymous said...

Those look incredible! What a fantastic idea!

Jerry said...

Chocolate, mint and oh soooo good yummyness!

Nemmie said...

I am making these. Soon. They look (and sound) amazing.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad the chocolate mint chip cupcakes won! They look amazing. I can't wait to try them out!!

Donna said...

Hi..
I've tried this recipe.. super delicious. I really enjoy reading your blog.

Mallow said...

I love mint, and they turned out so lovely to look at!

Anonymous said...

These look delicious! Is it possible to make the meringue frosting with a hand mixer?

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

I'm not sure if a hand mixer can do the job, for 2 reasons. One, you have to steadily beat the egg whites in the first stage for about 7 minutes. That might get kinda tiring. And two, when you mix in the butter, you're supposed to use the paddle attachment on the stand mixer so the frosting doesnt get too much air whipped into it. I think an electric mixer would whip the frosting too much.

However, I really don't know because I've never tried. I say just start with a small batch and go for it. If it doesn't work, you lost some eggs and butter but gained knowledge :)

Just remember after you add the butter, crank the mixer up to high for about 4 minutes again until it becomes thick (it will look soupy at first).

Anonymous said...

I made these cupcakes which were a hit but I had a few problems
The frosting only covered about 8 cupcakes but the bigger problems were
1. It looked grainy even though it tasted smooth

2. The frosting began to 'melt' and run down the sides of the cupcakes. The cupcakes were definitely cooled as they were baked the night before.

Any thoughts on what I did wrong?

Thanks for all the great ideas!

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

Anonymous, it sounds like the sugar didn't get a chance to melt into the egg whites during the heating process. One way to test this is to dip a spoon into the egg whites and sugar while they are in the double boiler. Run your finger across the spoon, and if you can feel the grainy sugar, then let it keep heating until it melts.

I don't know why your frosting melted. I've never had that happen with SMBC before. Was it really stiff when you first put it on the cupcakes?

Here's my favorite recipe for SMBC. It gives enough frosting to generous cover 24 cupcakes.

4 egg whites
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp
Follow the same directions. You might need to add a little more than 1 tsp of peppermint extract.

I hope it works out! :)

Anonymous said...

this was sooo good! your great with SMBC, do you think you'd be up to the challenge of a coconut SMBC? love your blog :)

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

Anonymous, you can make coconut frosting with this recipe, just replace the peppermint extract with coconut extract! Start with 1 tsp and add more, 1/4 tsp at a time, until it tastes how you want it. :)

Holly said...

These sounded and looked so good, I had to try the recipe out (and wrote a wee bit here with photos). I liked them, but I thought they were a little short on chocolate flavor. Might have been because I used chocolate syrup and milk instead of pre-made chocolate milk, which is probably a lot richer.

Holly said...

Hey, thanks very much. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi!
I love your blog!
I'm just wondering if I could use shortening instead of butter.Or maybe half and half? I also read in some articles that butter flavoring is needed for that. You see I live in the tropical country of the Philippines... I don't want to end up with a pool of melted butter on my cupcakes...
And also this sounds weird but when you say standard sized cup cakes how small are those really... (i'm using a size 2 cup liner) (maybe that means 2 oz or something)...
thanx!!!

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

Anonymous, shortening won't work in this type of frosting recipe. Here's one to try:

1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons peppermint extract

Mix all ingredients with an electric mixer on high speed until fluffy and smooth.

When I fill my cupcake liners with batter, I usually put 1/4 cup (2 oz.) of batter in each one. That should give you an idea about the size.

I hope I could help! :D

KYME said...

I tried these cupcakes. I suppose you're supposed to use those really quality peppermint extracts or whatnot. Mine says peppermint flavour. XD So my cupcakes don't taste THAT minty. Well actually, I don't think they taste minty at all. But anyway, I ended up with 12 cupcakes. >.> They are quite good. My meringue buttercream was really soft. I wish I could do swirls like you! They're so beautiful.

Gala said...

Hey there, I'm planning to frost a layer cake with mint smbc and was wondering if this recipe is easily doubled?... I think I'll be using 6 egg whites, any thoughts on how much sugar and butter I should be using?

The Betz Family said...

Thanks for a great recipe and thanks for your comment! I went back into my post and added your link as well as the one where I originally found the recipe (that person linked to yours). Sometimes when I'm posting it is hard to remember all the things I want/need to put in a post. By the time I get done with the writing, photos, and recipe I'm just hoping I remembered everything. Anyway, I just wanted to give credit where credit is due, so thanks again for the yummy recipe!