Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

What's better on a cold wintry day than sipping hot chocolate? Check out this recipe! You will find you can drink your hot cocoa and eat it too! The recipe, created by Britainy Shaw, was published in the December 2012 issue of Southern Living magazine. Her recipe is for a 3-layer cake. Below is her original recipe for the cake. 

PEPPERMINT-HOT CHOCOLATE CAKE

Makes 10 to 12 servings
Hands on time: 40 minutes
Total time: 2 hours, 25 minutes, including Filling and Frosting

1/2 cup boiling water
1 (4-oz.) milk chocolate baking bar, chopped  (I used semi-sweet baking bar)
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, separated
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
   Fudge Filling 
   Peppermint-Cream Frosting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 (8-inch) round cake pans.
2. Pour boiling water over chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Cool to room temperature (about 30 minutes).
3. Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate and vanilla, beating until blended. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients, add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. 
4. Beat egg whites at medium speed until soft peaks form; gently fold into batter. Pour batter into prepared pans. 
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely (about 40 minutes).
6. Meanwhile, prepare Fudge Filling: spread between cake layers. Spread frosting on top and sides of cake. 

Fudge Filling
Makes 2 cups
Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Combine 1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk and 1 (12 oz.) package semisweet chocolate morsels in a saucepan, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, 4 to 6 minutes or until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from heat; stir in 1/4 tsp. peppermint extract. Cool filling to room temperature (about 20 minutes).

Peppermint-Cream Frosting
Makes 3 cups
Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes
Beat 1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow creme; 1 (8-oz.) container frozen whipped topping, thawed; and 1/8 tsp. peppermint extract at high speed with an electric mixer 1 to 2 minutes or until glossy, stiff peaks form.

I had the fun of visiting "Georgetown Cupcakes" in the DC area over Christmas. My mixer, Millicent, was experiencing a little mixer-envy after I took this photo in the popular bakery. That's when I knew I needed to let her strut her stuff and make some cupcakes of her own! :) So together we came up with this twist on the above recipe.

To make cupcakes, I basically followed the directions as above. I chose not to add the peppermint extract to the fudge filling. I wanted a more subtle hint of peppermint. I did add the extract to the white Peppermint-Cream Frosting. The recipe yields approximately 30 cupcakes. I filled the cups a little too full in the first batch, resulting in this look-- less than perfect-- just as tasty!

For best results, fill cups about 3/4 full of batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, but check with wooden pick (as described in recipe) to be sure they are done. After cooled, apply a layer of the fudge. Then top with the Peppermint-Cream Frosting. I sprinkled crushed peppermint candies on top of some of the iced cupcakes for variety. 

By the way, Millicent is feeling much better now!

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