Hot Chocolate on a Cold Day
Just like the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes I have been toying around with making some form of Hot Chocolate Cupcake for a while. So, I figured I had the perfect opportunity to try these out because this weekend we were having The Second Annual Males Family Skating Party on Lake Lansing. We live right on the lake and we clear off a spot to go skating. Here’s a glimpse of our own personal skating rink – yep – that is me in the middle with my ice skates on. The photo was taken in the evening so it does look a little creepy, but ice skating is so much fun…
but…. back to the cupcakes, what you really want to see. I had been toying with the idea of making some Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cupcakes for our skating party… What I really wanted to find was some disposable plastic or paper cups with handles to look like little cups of hot chocolate. I knew I had seen these before, but I couldn’t find them anywhere… I even went to the new GFS Foods, but found nothing. I don’t know what made me check out the Staples website, but that is where I found what I was looking for. I found these little paper Solo cups and was able to have them shipped to the store so I didn’t have to pay any shipping. Pretty close to what I was looking for. Yay! So, I had my cups finally and now I needed to decide how I was going to make and assemble my “hot chocolate.” Since I could potentially have about 12 people I decided that I would put 2 cupcakes in each cup. I found a great “hot chocolate cupcake recipe from The Picky Palate. I decided not to do the mint kiss centers or the marshmallows. You can see the exact recipe and directions at the end of this post, but here is what I did. I mixed all the ingredients from the recipe for the cupcakes and filled all 2 cupcake tins… Look at how thick the batter was
Even though I planned to take the liners off I decided to cook with them just because I didn’t want to mess with having to get these out of the pan. Â I baked these for about 18 minutes and then let them cool. I may have filled these a bit too much because they poured over the top, but I think these big ones worked well as “top” cupcakes.
Once these cooled a little I took the paper liners off them. I took one cupcake and placed it down into the bottom of the cup like this….
Then it was time for the ganache – I made a peppermint chocolate ganache. I wanted this to stay gooey so I didn’t let it set. If you wanted a firmer ganache you can let it set for about 30 minutes.  I used my little ice cream scooper to cover the bottom cupcake with the ganache.
Look at how good these look!
Then it was time for the top cupcake. I placed it right on top of the ganache.
I now had all twleve ready and waiting for the whipped cream icing and a dash of peppermint toppings.
Now for the embellishments! I whipped up (pun intended) some whipped cream icing and plopped that on top with some peppermint baking bits and don’t forget the straw!
These cupcakes had to be eaten with a spoon, but that is okay because with the whipped cream and all sometimes I like a spoon with my hot chocolate.
| Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cupcakes | [printable version] |
| Makes 24 Cupcakes (or 12 “cups of hot chocolate”)
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| Cupcakes* | Peppermint Chocolate Ganache | ||
| 1 Devils Food Cake Mix | 1 C. heavy whipping cream | ||
| 4 eggs | 2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips | ||
| 1/2 C. olive oil | 1/2 tsp. pure peppermint extract | ||
| 1 small box instant chocolate pudding mix | |||
| 1 C. sour cream | |||
| 3/4 C. warm milk mixed with 1 packet hot chocolate mix | |||
| Whipped Cream | Optional | ||
| 2 c. heavy whipping cream | peppermint baking bits or shavings | ||
| 2 Tbl. powdered sugar | Pirouettes (mint chocolate) for straws | ||
| 2 tsp. vanilla | |||
| * adapted from The Picky Palate | |||
| To make the cupcakes |
| Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix on medium speed cake mix, eggs, oil, pudding mix, sour cream, and mixed hot chocolate. Mix until well combined, about 1 ½ minutes. Scoop into 24 paper lined muffin tins about 3/4 full. Bake for 18 -20 minutes. Remove cupcakes and let cool for about 10 minutes. |
| To make the peppermint chocolate ganache |
| While cupcakes cool make the ganache by heating cream over medium heat to just about a boil. Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips and peppermint extract. Let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. |
| To make the whipped cream topping |
| Beat heavy cream in a chilled bowl on high until thickened. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat to the desired consistency. |
| To assemble the “cups of hot chocolate” |
| Remove the liners from the cupcakes. Place one cupcake in each of 12 cups. You may want to push the cupcakes down a bit so the top cupcake can fit. Using a small ice cream scoop, top each cupcake with ganache. Place another cupcake on top of the ganache. Pipe whipped topping onto top cupcakes without a tip so that it looks like a large dollop of whipped cream. It is also fine to just use a spoon to put a dollop of whipped cream on the top of each cupcake. Sprinkle with peppermint baking bits or peppermint candy shavings. Break six pirouettes in half and place one half in each cupcake. |
