Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Crystallized Mint Leaves
Posted by Cupcake Kelly on Mar 9, 2011 in Chocolate, Cupcakes | 7 comments-
This is the last recipe I tested from Fiona Cairns Bake & Decorate. The cake tasted great. The brown sugar and ground almonds made it a little different than every other chocolate cake. The frosting left a lot to be desired. This was the only thing I made from the book that I wasn’t crazy about. The ratio of butter to sugar didn’t seem right to me. It tasted like a lump of butter and wasn’t fluffy at all. I ended up changing it slightly and it ended up going really well with the chocolate cake.
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I don’t even remember the last time I frosted a cupcake with a spatula! It’s not easy to get it to look like the ones at Hummingbird or Magnolia! I like these short videos from youtube here and here showing how it’s done.
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I’m definitely getting a little more brave and trying different decorating techniques. It’s hard to tell from the picture but I made crystallized mint leaves for the toppers. A few of them came out perfect the rest were a little too lumpy.
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Chocolate Mint Cupcakes
adapted from Fiona Cairns Bake & Decorate with permission from Quadrille (makes 24)
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Ingredients
Chocolate Mint Cake
175g unsalted butter at room temperature
100g dark mint chocolate
120ml boiling water
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
100g ground almonds
275g dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs beaten
150ml buttermilk
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Crystallized Mint Leaves
Mint leaves
1 egg white
caster sugar
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Peppermint Buttercream
200g unsalted butter
250g icing sugar, sifted (I ended up using around 400-450g)
green food coloring
1 tsp peppermint extract
I also added about 4-6tbs tablespoons of milk
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1. Make the crystallized mint leaves first. They take several hours to dry so make them the night before if possible. Take 24 mint leaves removed from the stalks. Put the egg and caster sugar in separate bowls. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (I used my non stick pan and didn’t bother).
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2. Brush each leaf on the side that will be displayed with the egg white and sprinkle with the sugar. Shake any excess off. Place on the baking sheet egg side up. Place in an airing cupboard to dry. Not sure who has one of these anymore! I put mine on top of the tumble dryer. Be careful when removing they are very delicate.
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They look delicious! I'm actually making these tonight except putting mint chocolates on top! Can't wait to try them
I actually think you deserve a medal for services to baking for making these !!
@Laura - let us know how they turn out!
@Jean - thanks :-p this has probably stretched my decorating skills to the limits!
They went down a treat… definitely doing these again
http://what-laura-made.blogspot.com/2011/03/cupcake-delights.html
I think I just died and went to heaven. o.o
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