Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Just a quick one today! This chocolate mint cupcake recipe makes the ultimate cupcake for chocolate and mint lovers, like myself. If mint isn’t your thing then just ice with regular chocolate butter icing.

Yay! Today is the last day of work before we embark upon the 4-day Easter weekend. Gosh, isn’t the year is zipping by very quickly? It is now only 44 days until my big trip to Europe and the States – pretty exciting but so much to do before departure!

Have an egg-cellent long weekend everybody!

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes
Makes 12

For the cupcakes:

• 125 grams of butter
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 2 tablespoons of golden syrup
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of trim milk
• 2 cups of plain flour
• 1 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 a teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teapsoon of vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/4 a cup of trim milk

For the icing:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 2 tbsps cocoa
• 2 tbsps hot water
• few drops of green food colouring
• few drops of peppermint essence

Cream together the butter and the sugar. Add the egg and beat well until combined. Beat in the 1 cup of milk. Sift in the dry ingredients and fold in. Add vanilla. Dissolve the baking soda into the milk and add to the cake batter. Mix extremely well. Divide the mixture up between a 12-hole muffin pan.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes at about 180 degrees. Set aside until the cupcakes have completely cooled.

For the icing, blend together about 2 tbsp of butter with 2 cups of icing sugar. Add a small amount of cocoa and a few drops of green food colouring. If you want a brighter shade of green that isn’t chocolate peppermint flavoured, omit the cocoa.

Chocolate Peppermint Slice

Yay! It is Friday ☺ This week has been incredibly busy but incredibly long.

The weather this week has been a little dull, and drizzly so I was looking for something bright and fun to make! I love bright electric colour and there is no better way to express than through food. This slice recipe is amazing! Literally melt-in-your-mouth peppermint slice. The base is very light and chocolatety with a bright luminous layer of green, topped with a rich chocolate icing.

This slice recipe has been in my family for many years. It was the slice that was made for the school fundraiser, the board of trustee meetings, or for our babysitter. It is the slice that reminds me of Christmas – not only its bright green lurid colouring but the fact that so many things are made at Christmas time, a lot sat in our freezer for days, weeks following until bit by bit, it was gone. Every year.

For such an easy to make slice, it goes down incredibly well. The peppermint essence certainly provides a bit of a kick and well, the green food colouring…what can I say! I may well just have a heavier hand that most….

Have a bright and sunny weekend everyone!

Chocolate Peppermint Slice

For the base:

• 125 grams of butter
• 1/2 a cup of brown sugar
• 3/4 a cup of flour
• 1 tablespoon of cocoa
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• A pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 2 cups of icing sugar
• 125 grams of kremelta
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup of coconut
• 2 tablespoons of green food colouring
• 1-2 teaspoons of peppermint essence

For the icing:

• 1 cup of icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 tablespoon of warm water

Pre-heat your oven to 150 degrees.

Cream the butter and the sugar until it is well combined and light and fluffy. Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt together. Add the the creamed mixture and press into a square baking tin lined with baking paper. Bake at 150 degrees for about 20 minutes. Once out of the oven, put aside and cool for about half an hour.

Sift the icing sugar, then melt the kremelta in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Whisk the egg whites until foamy. Mix the icing sugar, kremelta, coconut, green food colouring and essence into the egg whites. You should have created a beautiful luminous green icing! Spread over the cooled chocolate base.

Once cool, ice with chocolate icing! Refrigerate and cut into squares when ready. This slice keeps really well in an air tight container for about a week. Enjoy!