Thin Mint Cupcakes

Chocolate and mint are such a great combination. Peppermint patties = awesome. Mint Hot Chocolate = delicious. Thin Mints = wonderful. See, you can't go wrong. And these cupcakes are here to prove it.

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Mint Buttercream

For the cake:
3/4 cup flour (heaping)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp mint extract
1 cup boiling hot chocolate (we used mint flavored)

For the frosting:
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter (just softened)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp heavy whipping cream (or milk)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp mint extract (add more or less depending on how strong you want the minty flavor)
1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa

4 Thin Mints or Grasshopper Cookies (for crumbling)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper baking liners. Do not attempt to bake straight in pan, this cake will stick.

Sift together dry ingredients in electric mixer. In separate bowl, combine wet ingredients EXCEPT hot cocoa. Slowly stir wet ingredients into dry until just combined. Add boiling hot cocoa slowly until batter is uniform and very runny. Don't worry, it will bake just fine. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, filling 3/4 full. Do not overfill, they will make a mess in the oven.

Bake for 35 to 40 min until toothpick inserted comes out dry. Remove from pans and let cool on cooling rack.

For frosting: combine shortening and butter in electric mixer and whip until light and fully. Alternate adding milk and sugar until frosting is fluffy and slightly stiff. Add cocoa, vanilla and mint extract. Mix thoroughly. Spoon into pastry bag and frost cooled cupcakes. Crumble cookies until they are a rough powder and sprinkle on top.

Enjoy!

Banana Snack Cake

I woke up yesterday and wanted to make some rice pudding with my leftover rice. So I put the rice in the pot and realized I was out of milk. No big deal, I used some evaporated milk. Turns out I was also out of sugar, white and brown, so I used the last of my honey. I decided it was time to go grocery shopping...

Armed with fresh ingredients, I decided to make this delicious snack cake with those bananas that has been sitting on the counter for too long. I accidentally doubled the first two ingredients, so I just had to double the rest. Too bad :)

This recipe is a family favorite and one of the recipes that we would make all the time when we were down in Peru because it is easy and we always had bananas.

Banana Snack Cake

1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
½ cup buttermilk (or milk with a tsp of vinegar or lemon juice)
2 bananas- mashed
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup whole oats
1 ½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add eggs. Stir in buttermilk, vanilla and bananas.
In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix well. Add
chocolate chips and pour into 9x13 greased pan or greased muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 35-40 min or
until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Chocolate Peppermint Cake Roll

I saw this recipe more than a year ago on Joy the Baker and I have wanted to make it ever since. I finally got around to it this Christmas. The pictures didn't turn out as well as I would like, but the cake itself was delicious. It is light and fluffy but still rich and decadent. A deadly combination.

We had a few mishaps with the cake (no semi sweet chocolate so we combined milk and dark) and an even bigger mishap with the whipped filling (I mistook a bottle of peppermint oil for peppermint extract and the filling tasted like an aromatherapy bath, so we had to start over), but somehow it turned out.

I wouldn't really change anything from Joy's original recipe and she gives great step by step instructions with pictures. But we did add some crushed peppermint to the filling because I am a peppermint lover. Click on the link above for the recipe.