These are a delicious Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Icing.
Every holiday should have their own cupcake. Or every cupcake should have their own holiday. Cupcakes are just so darned cute, and they seem to make people happy. These Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Icing are perfectly festive for the holidays, and people are likely going to be quite happy with how they taste!
These delicious chocolate cupcakes are topped with a thin layer of peppermint icing. Be sure to use peppermint extract in this recipe and not spearmint extract. I made that mistake once and my dessert ended up tasting like toothpaste. So don’t do that!
Crushed candy canes (or whole, mini candy canes) are the perfect complement for the peppermint icing. They add a little festive color to the cupcakes too. Use green candy canes too for additional holiday cheer.
Alternately, you can pick up some Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses and place a kiss on top instead. This is a good option if you still want something pretty but you don’t like to have the crunch of candy canes on your dessert.
This is such a simple, portioned-out dessert for the holiday season. The recipe makes 12 cupcakes, so you won’t have a lot left over. Enjoy!
Here are a few more cupcake recipes you might like to try:
- Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Red Velvet Cupcakes
- White Wedding Cake Cupcakes
- Margarita Cupcakes
- Key Lime Cupcakes
- Pink Champagne Cupcakes
- Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes
- Pink Strawberry Cupcakes
Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Icing
Ingredients
CUPCAKES:
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup low fat buttermilk
PEPPERMINT ICING:
- 2 cups powdered sugar, measure and then sift
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces) tub-style light cream cheese
- 1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract
- crushed candy canes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
PREPARE THE CUPCAKES:
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the brown sugar and butter; beat at medium speed for 2 minutes, or until well blended. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
- Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back when touched lightly in the center (and inserted toothpick comes out clean). Cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack. If the cupcake tops have overflowed onto the cupcake pan, run a knife around the tops and gently twist each cupcake to loosen it from sticking to the pan. Remove the cupcakes from the pan. Cool completely on a wire rack.
PREPARE THE ICING:
- In a medium bowl, use a rubber spatula to combine the powdered sugar, cream cheese and peppermint extract. Stir until smooth. If it seems too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar. Spread the icing on the cupcakes and sprinkle with candy cane pieces.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
made these for our christmas party… YUMMY! what a hit they were!
I made these this past Christmas and they were gobbled up instantly! Would definitely make again 🙂