Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

  

These cupcakes are super moist and chocolatey, my new favorite. The light, creamy mint frosting pairs with it perfectly. These cupcakes look adorable with the piped rosettes and edged mini chocolate chips, and are a treat to eat. They were taken to a party and everyone enjoyed them.

This cupcake recipe can be used as a normal chocolate cupcake recipe (without the mint) and can also be doubled to make a layer cake.

This recipe is adapted from Lauren’s Latest and Our Best Bites.

Oven Temperature: 350˚F
Baking Time: 10-15 minutes
Makes: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
cupcakes
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Andes baking chips (mint chocolate morsels)

frosting
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon mint extract
a couple drops green food coloring (optional)

garnish
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:
cupcakes
Preheat your oven to 350˚F. Line one cupcake tin for 12 regular-sized cupcakes with paper liners.

In a small bowl or in your measuring cup, stir the milk and vinegar together and set aside for 5-10 minutes (if it looks curdled, that’s because it’s supposed to be).

In a large bowl (we used a stand mixer, but it is not necessary), mix together the oil, sugar and vanilla.

In a medium bowl, stir the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. Also sift in the cocoa powder.

Then, alternate the milk and the flour mixture into the oil and sugar, starting and ending with the flour. Then stir in the Andes mints.

Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners (a large ice cream scoop is perfect for this). Then bake for 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

Cool your cupcakes on a wire rack until completely cool.

frosting
In a small saucepan, stir the flour and milk constantly over medium-low heat. The mixture will start to thicken. When you can see the bottom of the pan when you stir, the mixture is thick enough. Take it off the heat and place in the refrigerator to cool.

Whip the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add the cooled milk-flour mixture and mint extract. Keep mixing until the mixture becomes very light and fluffy. This will take around 10 minutes, so don’t stop mixing if it doesn’t seem to come together. It is finished when you can rub some frosting between your fingers and you can’t feel any sugar grains. Mix in the food coloring and you are done.

assembly
Put your frosting in a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.

Then, get out your cooled cupcakes. Pipe a rosette onto the tops of each cupcake.

Turn the cupcake onto its side in your hand. Then sprinkle some mini chocolate chips onto the edges of the frosting.

Enjoy!