Just a quick one from me today because I'm off to celebrate a very special Birthday... my dad's!
Dad is a serious peppermint lover. It's where I got my peppermint tooth from. Together we can knock off a box of mint sticks faster than you can say 'can I have one?' The year before last I combined dad's love of ice-cream with his peppermint in an 'ice-cream cake.' He loved it so much he ate the icing straight from the cone!
This year I thought I'd stick to theme so spiced up my fool-proof cupcake recipe with some peppermint essence and grated chocolate to create peppermint choc chip cupcakes. Topping them off with the minty crunch of royal icing made them a cupcake to delight any mint lover (I had to sample a few of course).
For mum and dad's anniversary I ordered some edible images with the intention of making them anniversary biscuits. Despite ordering them a month in advance, they didn't arrive until after the big day so I re-jigged them a little for dad's Birthday.
Unfortunately it wasn't very successful. I cut off mum's head, put a hole in dad's face and removed poor dad's hair way too many times. They were so difficult to work with I only managed to salvage about 5 of the 30. It might have been the weather or it might have been my batch but I wasn't impressed.
Luckily I had lots of green goodies on hand to mint them up.
Happy Birthday Dad!
What about you? What's your favourite flavour?
Recipe
Ingredients
- CUPCAKES
- 125 g butter softened
- ¾ cup caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon peppermint essence
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 few drops of green food colouring
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup freshly-squeeze orange juice
- 225 g self-raising flour
- 4 tablespoon grated dark chocolate
- ICING
- 1 egg white
- 1 cup icing sugar
- ½ teaspoon peppermint essence
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C fan-forced and line a cupcakes tray with paper cases.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
- Add the essence, colouring and extract and beat them through.
- Beat in the egg, scrape down the sides and beat again.
- Add half the flour and mix until just combined then add half the orange juice and beat it in.
- Repeat.
- Scrape down the sides again and increase the speed and beat the mixture for 1 minute.
- Take the bowl off the stand and fold in the grated chocolate.
- Divide the batter between the cupcake cases and bake for 10 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Transfer baked cupcakes to a wire rack to cool
- To make the icing, whip the egg white until frothy then slowly add the icing sugar.
- Beat in the peppermint essence.
- When the cupcakes are cool, dip the top of each one in the icing and shake to get rid of any excess.
- Place them on a wire rack to allow the icing to set.
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Jess says
I'm with your dad 110% - there's nothing I love in desserts as much as peppermint!
Claire says
Especially with chocolate!
Hotly Spiced says
What gorgeous looking cupcakes and how good of you to make something you know your dad will love for his birthday. What a shame those edible transfers didn't work! And what about the crazy delivery time - that's no good. I ordered an A4 sheet of edible words to put on my father-in-laws cake and it arrived in 24 hours and was easy to work with. If there's ever a 'next-time', try Pure Gelato in Sydney xx
Claire says
I was so disappointed with the Charlie. I'll have a go of them next time.
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says
I really like the chocolate/mint combination almost as much as i like the chocolate/peanut butter combo. Belated birthday wishes to your dad and I know he enjoyed the cupcakes!
Claire says
I've grown to love the choc/pb combination in the last year too. The best was a block of wither's (I think) peanut butter chocolate. Oh it was good. Thanks Maureen I shall pass it on!
Jennifer (Delicieux) says
Happy birthday to your Dad Claire!! I'm sure he will love these cupcakes. They look fantastic. Peppermint chocolate chip is one of my favourite flavours.
Claire says
Thanks Jen! I hope he does!