I’ve been wanting to try to make mint flavored cupcakes for a while now and when I finally found mint extract I was unnecessarily happy!

Also this being my 100th post I wanted something pretty to show you.

We’ve made these with Ece in a sort of a workshop manner, so they are in the ‘experimental’ folder.think I got her hooked on frosting too.

I used a chocolate and a white base but to be honest chocolate was the obvious choice for these cupcakes.

Ingredients for chocolate base:

1+1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa (if your cocoa is a strong one you can use less)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1+1/3 cup sugar

Vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

Mix flour, cocoa, soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

In a bigger bowl beat butter until fluffy and lighter color, you can use the back of a wooden spoon too but it will take longer.

Add sugar to the butter gradually, then eggs one at a time.

When you have a good mix alternatively add the milk and the flour mix, and as always with mixtures like this starting and ending with flour.

If you don’t like the end consistency just add a little bit more milk or flour to get it up to your liking, don’t go overboard though.

When you put a toothpick through the cakes and it comes out with small bits stuck to it, you’re just about ready. Leave them for another minute and take them out. If the toothpick comes out completely clean, they are overdone.] *This part is the same for all the cupcake base recipes I use in this blog, unless stated otherwise.

Adapted from: DedeWilson Blog

I also made some ganache to fill some of the cupcakes and drizzle over some. It was my first time trying ganache so bear with me, I followed the recipe at ZoeBakes.com so I advise you to do the same. I originally wanted to do a version of her cupcakes bu my ganache was bit runny… But here are the instructions anyway,

Ingredients for ganache:

1 cup heavy cream

225gr unsweetened (bitter) chocolate

1 tablespoon butter

Mint extract (optional)

In a sauce pan heat up the cream and let it simmer. Take off the heat and add the chocolate and the butter in small pieces. Let them melt and mix the pan until you have a beautiful dark color with a homogeneous mixture. You can now add the salt and if you want the mint extract, I didn’t use any mint at this point, I didn’t want the cupcakes too intense as a whole.

Let the ganache cool for a bit.

I carved little holes in my cupcakes and filled them with ganache, for some I just spread some on the cupcake. For the rest I put it in a squeeze bottle to save for decorating.

Ganache source: Zoe Bakes

For the frosting I wanted the mint flavor to come here so I made a simple buttercream with mint.

1+1/2 cup butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar ( have some extra to control the consistency of the frosting)

1/2 teaspoon mint extract

Wilson Kelly Green gel food coloring

This is just like basic buttercream, just beat the softened butter until a lighter color and fluffy, gradually add as much as sugar as you want, check the consistency and the taste as you go. When you’re happy with the consistency add the mint extract and beat some more. Now this part is important, according to the intensity of your mint extract you may need to add some more, so just taste and decide for your self. When you’re done you can add the food coloring. I started using gel coloring and bought this beautiful color. You only need a tiny bit taken with the tip of a toothpick. That’s about it. But if you want a slightly darker color, again just a tiny bit more.

I used little chocolate balls and the ganache I made earlier to decorate the cupcakes.

Also I used some of the fondant shaped I made earlier in the week. If you make your fondant shapes ahead, let them dry a little but make sure you store them in an air tight bag/box and make sure they sit flat no matter how dried they are. They would be still soft inside.

These were so fun to prepare and decorate and so refreshing to eat. They are also very holiday-y. What is your favorite holiday cupcake flavor? Enjoy.