Making Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Sophia

It’s really fun when your kids catch on to something you love, and I love to cook. I learned to cook from my mom, and she learned from her mom, and so on. No mom in the house? No problem – Dads are great cooks too! I’ve taken over that cook role, and am teaching both my girls the way around a kitchen. It makes me soooo happy when one of our girls is inspired to cook, like Sophia recently when she asked me about making Chocolate Mint Cupcakes.

No matter that we didn’t have many of the ingredients in the house. Luckily for us, there is a Vons supermarket just blocks away. A little spin around the grocery aisles, and we were in business.

Making Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

A while back when cupcakes were just becoming a thing, I bought this great cookbook called Your Cup of Cake by Lizzy Early. These are not your average cupcakes mind you – they are fancy and delicious works of art. It was a little daunting for Sophia to pick a recipe from this book, but we were game on a Sunday afternoon. The results may not have been as pretty as the photos in the book, but they sure were tasty.

Watch Sophia’s video to get inspired!

Recipe for Making Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

(Courtesy of Your Cup of Cake by Lizzy Early)

For Chocolate Cupcakes:

1 box devil’s food cake mix (we used Betty Crocker Devil’s Food Cake Mix)

3 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350-degrees and line cupcake pans with liners.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs, oil, buttermilk, sour cream and vanilla together. Add cake mix until well combined.

Fill cupcake liners to 3/4 full and bake for 17-20 minutes or until knife inserted near the center comes out clean. (Ours were ready at 17 minutes). Remove from pan and let cool completely.

For Peppermint Chocolate Ganache:

1 cup chocolate chips (we used semi-sweet)

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

4 tablespoons whipping cream

Put chocolate chips and peppermint extract in a heatproof bowl and set aside. Gently heat whipping cream in small pot until small bubbles form around the edges. Pour cream over chocolate chips and whisk until smooth.

Dip the top of each cupcake into the ganache, twisting and coating the top completely. Set aside to cool and harden.

For the Peppermint Buttercream Frosting:

(We doubled this recipe for the frosting, and were glad we did or would have run out! The amounts listed below are NOT doubled.)

3/4 cup butter, softened

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 teaspoons peppermint extract

4 cups powdered sugar (yes that is a lot)

4-6 drops green food coloring (optional)

Chocolate peppermint candies for garnish (we used Andes Mints)

Beat butter and cream cheese for 2 minutes. Add peppermint extract and slowly add powdered sugar until buttercream reaches desired consistency. Add green food coloring if desired.

Pipe buttercream on top of ganache covered cupcakes. Drizzle any extra ganache over top of the cupcakes, and finish with a chocolate peppermint candy.

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