Hi there, I hope you are having a good day and hopefully this recipe for Double Chocolate Chunk Mint Cupcakes will make you smile and encourage you to get baking!!!!
So late (7.30pm – that’s late for me!) the other night, I was in bed and our lil man popped his head round the door and said “Mummy it’s the school bake sale tomorrow. Do we have anything that I can take in?”. Looking at me with his angelic, freckled face and gorgeous green eyes, hopeful, expectant. Mummy’s can sort anything out, at a moments notice – can’t they????
Well of course we can! Improvisation is one of the most important parenting tools any mum or dad learns.
So, fortunately my cupboards are groaning under the weight of baking ingredients at the mo, due to being unwell over Christmas – see there’s a silver lining to every dark cloud! If I was going to bake I was definitely going to blog about it. Only problem with that is, have already posted Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes (chocolate cupcakes guaranteed to sell and make the most money!), I needed a different chocolate recipe. So I invented a new recipe on the spot – Double Chocolate Chunk Mint Cupcakes!
Given my desire to get back to bed ASAP I decided not to frost these cupcakes. Sprinkling each individual cupcake top with chopped up crunchy after dinner mints turned out better than I hoped for. The crunchy mint chocolate shards didn’t melt, or lose their shape and once cooled provided an excellent topping in itself! Ditching the frosting also made it much easier for my lil man to transport these scrumptious (WHAT?? – of course we had to try them!!!) cupcakes to school.
Recipe : Makes 33-36 Cupcakes
1lb/450g Unsalted Butter – at room temp
1lb/450g Light Soft Brown Sugar
8 Eggs – Large, room temp – pref free range
2tsp. Vanilla Extract
1tsp. Peppermint Extract
1/4tsp. Salt – I use Kosher (free flowing and additive free)
12oz/350g White Self Raising Flour
4oz/100g Cocoa Powder
8oz/225g Milk Chocolate Chunks (or chips)
4oz/100g Dark Mint Chocolate
Method :
Preheat oven to 190C (175C fan).
Place the butter and sugar into a large bowl and whisk (using an electric whisk, or beater paddle in a stand mixer) until completely combined (this is called creaming) and light and fluffy in texture.
Add the vanilla/peppermint extracts and the salt. Whisk in thoroughly. Now add the eggs, one at a time, whisking between each addition – I break each egg into a separate bowl before adding it to the mixture – it helps keep any errant eggshell out of the batter. If the eggs are at room temp then the batter shouldn’t curdle, however, if it does start to curdle just add 1 tablespoon of your flour and the mixture will come back together again.
Next sift in the flour and cocoa powder. Fold this in using a spoon/spatula, using a gentle figure-of-eight movement rotating the bowl to ensure the flour/cocoa become fully incorporated. The idea is to keep the mixture light and not lose too much of the trapped air from the whisked in eggs.
Add the milk chocolate chunks and fold these into the Cupcake batter so they are evenly distributed.
Line you cupcake/muffin tin with cupcake cases and using an ice cream scoop, fill the cases 3/4 full (one scoop full). Remember I’m not frosting these cupcakes so I want them to have a nice rounded top!
Sprinkle the crunchy, dark mint chocolate shards over the top of each uncooked cupcake, pushing slightly into the batter.
Bake the cupcakes for 15-20 mins depending on your oven. I usually test if cupcakes are cooked by lightly pressing in the middle and if it springs back it’s cooked. I DON’T suggest you do this – I did, forgetting there would be melted chocolate on the top – OUCH!! So, when the Double Chocolate Chunk Mint Cupcakes are risen, with a nice dome shape, lightly press the SIDE of the cupcake top. If firm remove the cupcakes from the oven, if it’s still a bit sticky and wobbly, leave them in the oven for 3-5 minutes until firm and then remove.
If you’ve only got a couple of cupcake tins you can pop them on the garden bench to speed up the cooling process, so you can decant the cupcakes, wash the tins, get the next batch in the oven and get back to bed!!!!
When the cupcakes are all cool, pack into an airtight container, cupcake box for school bake sale or place one on a plate pour a glass of milk and take it up to bed to enjoy!!!!
All Double Chocolate Chunk Mint Cupcakes were sold out in 2 minutes the next day, raising £10 for the charity Mencap!!!
The fun bits……..
You could easily halve this recipe, should you not have a cake sale to bake for, or, here’s a thought – use the recipe, as is, and surprise someone with a tin/box/plateful of scrummy cupcakes!!
Remember Food Tastes Better When It’s Shared. Happy Feasting!
Sammie x
