Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

It's 4 am here in sunny California. My dear, sweet, chubby-legged princess decided that sleeping through the night was over-rated and that it would be a perfect time to have a nice chat with mom. I shouldn't complain too much. She is only 16 weeks old and has slept 12+ hours in a row for the last week and a half, so I'm actually feeling somewhat human with all that sleep. Not that I don't want her to call this morning a fluke and go back to her 12 hours.

So, once I was up, I was up. What are you going to do at 4 am? Sleep, some may say, but alas, it isn't in the cards for me. I'm a light sleeper and when I get up for extended amounts of time (like the amount of time it takes for a drowsy 16 week old to finish a bottle) then it's next to impossible to get back to sleep. So why not blog?

I made these last week (after having made them forever ago) and remembered how much I loved them. Not too minty but minty enough and just overall yummy. This time, for reasons that escape my 4 am-brain, I didn't use the frosting and simply drizzled some left over re-warmed ganache on the top. Perfect!

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcake

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

3 sticks butter

2 1/4 cups sugar

8 eggs

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of salt

Ganache

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

Mint Buttercream Frosting

2 sticks butter

4-5 cups sifted powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract

For cupcake

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with 24 cupcake liners
• Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler. Add sugar and let cool slightly. Beat on medium for 3 minutes.
• Add eggs one at a time.
• Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Add to chocolate mixture and mix to combine.
• Scoop into liners 1/2-3/4 full. Bake 22-25 minutes.

For ganache

• Chop chocolate and place in a bowl.
• Heat cream until bubbles form. Pour over chocolate and let sit 30 seconds. Stir to combine. Add extract and butter. Let cool about an hour or until almost set.

For frosting

• Beat butter until creamy
• Add 4 cups of sugar, milk, and extract. Beat until combined. Add more sugar if necessary.

To assemble:

• Use an apple corer to scoop out the centers of the cooled cupcakes. Keep the tops but cut off a majority of the cone.
• Fill hole with ganache. I use a squeeze bottle and it works perfectly. Top with what's left of your scooped out cone.
• Top with frosting or drizzle with left-over ganache.

From Chockylit