Choc-Peppermint Cake and Cupcakes

Peppermint isn't exactly my favourite flavour but with chocolate it's not so bad. Chocolate makes everything better really! I made this cake for a work friends birthday and wasn't around for the cutting of it hence no inside photos :( 

I used XXX Mints to flavour the icing and I put choc bits in it to give it a kind of choc-chip look, so I promise that's what the black bits are, not cake crumbs.

The chocolate cake recipe I used was one that has oil and vinegar instead of milk, butter and eggs. A bit different but I thought I would give it a go. The result was a dark moist chocolate cake and although there is 2 cups of sugar in it (!) not overly sweet (I think the cocoa has something to do with that). 

I decided to whip up some cupcakes and mini cupcakes as the recipe was quite large and my cake was small. They didn't take long to cook and came up beautifully!

Choc-Peppermint Cake

Recipe adapted from About.com

What you will need

2 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup corn flour
2 cups caster sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tsp baking soda
10 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup oil
2 tbsp vinegar
2 cups cold water

2 cups icing sugar
250g butter, room temperature
1 packet of XXX mints
Green food colouring
1/2 packet Choc Thins
Crushed Flakes for decoration

What you will need to do

Preheat oven to 180*C and prepare your tins and trays. I used one 4 inch mini springform cake tin, 20 cupcake papers and 24 mini cupcake papers but you could just make one large slab cake if preferred.

Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl. In a separate bowl place the vanilla, oil, vinegar and water. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix slowly until combined. Once combined, beat mixture until smooth. Fill cake tin and cupcakes 3/4 full. Bake cake for about 30-40 minutes until top springs back when touched. The cupcakes will take around 20-30 minutes and the mini cupcakes will only take about 8minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. Meanwhile to make the icing, beat the icing sugar and butter together until light and creamy. Crush about 4 XXX mints until powdery and add the the icing. You can add more mints depending on how strong you want the flavour. Add a drop of green food colouring and beat. Add as much or as little until you reach your desired shade of green. Add the Choc Thins and mix until combined.

When the cake has cooled, slice into two halves. Place a dollop of icing on one half and spread it out. Place the other half of the cake on top and cover with icing. Place crushed Flakes on top for decoration. For the cupcakes, simply place remaining icing into a piping bag fitted with a round tip and pipe onto tops. You can sprinkle with some extra Choc Thins for decoration.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

To me, Red Velvet Cupcakes are just pure indulgence. The soft, dense crumb is so smooth and luxurious. The hint of chocolate against the sour notes of the cream cheese icing is balanced well. And the colour, well the sensational boldness of the red is an eye catcher every time. Pretty much I feel like royalty in the presence of Red Velvet Cupcakes! 

I made these as a practice run for a party that is coming up, and I must say I am super impressed by the recipe. I used a recipe from Joy of Baking and although it didn’t make many, they were so divine it was probably a good thing because between me and D we ate them all in a day. 

At the time of decorating I couldn’t decide between a round or star piping nozzle but now I think the star one looks better. In hindsight I would try to use less icing on the cupcakes as I went a little overboard and I don’t want to the icing to overpower the cupcake itself but just compliment it. I also added sprinkles for decoration but I am still undecided as to wether I will use them for the party I guess it will depend on what papers I use.

This recipe calls for Cake flour which isn’t exactly readily available to the home baker but there is a way you can substitute it. Basically Cake flour has less protein than bread flour and so for every cup of Cake flour you need, use 3/4 cup plain flour + 2 tbsp corn flour.

All in all this recipe is dead easy and the finished product is gorgeous. Give it a go and you won’t be disappointed.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Adapted from Joy of Baking, icing adapted from Baking Better

What you will need

1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup or 57g unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp red food colouring
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp baking soda

250g cream cheese, room temperature
125g butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups icing sugar
Sprinkles

What you will need to do

Preheat oven to 175*C and line 12 muffin tins with cupcake papers. Set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, beat butter until soft then add sugar and cream until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until combined. Scrape down bowl sides and add vanilla, beat until well combined.

In a small bowl whisk buttermilk and red food colouring. Mixing slowly, add the buttermilk and flour mixture alternately until just combined. In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda and let it fizz before adding it to the cake mix. Fold in quickly.

Divide the mixture between the 12 cupcake papers and smooth over the tops with the back of the spoon. Bake in preheated oven for approximately 18 - 23 minutes or until tops spring back when touched or toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in the pan for 10 minutes then remove and place on wire rack. Make sure they are completely cooled before icing. To make the icing, beat the butter until soft then add the icing sugar. This mix with be pretty stiff, add the vanilla and salt and beat until creamy. Add the cream cheese and mix until just combined and you cannot see any lumps. Don’t over mix or your icing will become liquid. I let my icing cool in the fridge for a bit to harden up a bit before piping but you can pipe straight away. Fill a piping bag fitted with your preferred shape and pipe swirls of icing onto the cupcakes. Finish with sprinkles if desired.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing

So as you are all aware halloween was just the other week. I personally don't celebrate it, I never have and I don't even know the real story behind it. I acknowledge that others celebrate it, but I don't think it is something that will ever be a part of my life, but that's just me.

In saying that though, I had my first trick or treaters come to my house this halloween and they did look super cute. I felt bad when I said "I'm sorry but I don't have anything for you". One of the trick or treaters was the little girl next door and I felt especially bad. I decided to make her some little cupcakes the next day to make it up to her.

I really tried to make the icing purple, but my red-blue combination didn't exactly work :(. They did look a little ghost-like though (and a little dog-poop-like :S) but they tasted delicious, just ask me I ate about half the batch!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing

(Recipe adapted from BestRecipes.com)

What you will need

3/4 cup self raising flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp instant coffee

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

80g butter

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

For the buttercream icing

(Recipe adapted from RaspberriCupcakes.com)

4 egg whites

1 cup caster sugar

250g butter, room temperature

Food colours

What you will need to do

Preheat oven to 180*C. Prepare cupcake tray with cupcake papers. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Add butter, milk and eggs. Beat on medium speed until combined and smooth. Fill cupcake papers to about .5cm below the top. Place in oven for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.

For the buttercream icing, place the egg whites and sugar into a clean dry bowl. Place over saucepan of simmering water and whisk until mixture reaches 160*C and sugar is dissolved. Place mixture and food colour into the bowl of a mixer and whisk on high speed. Mixture will turn thick and cool down after about 5 minutes. Reduce to medium speed and start adding butter a spoonful at a time. Beat until completely incorporated then add another spoonful. At this point my icing was runny :( so I put it into the fridge for 10 minutes then beat it again until thick. Place it into a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle and pipe onto tops of cupcakes.