Mini chocolate mint cupcakes and December

Hello my lovelies. Christmas is creeping closer and I’m buzzing with excitement. So many things are happening – December always seem to run at such a frantic pace. My younger brother’s birthday was yesterday, friends and I are going for a wee sojourn to Mudgee this weekend, my birthday is edging closer,  the Boy’s parents are coming to visit from England, and I’ve got a teapot competition to wrap up oversee (check out this post to find out how to win!)

This is all before Christmas.

And this isn’t counting the numerous feasts that friends are planning in the days before Christmas. I need to invest in some stretchier fat pants, the Christmas season is far too kind to my belly!

I love every bit of it. I love how friendly shoppers and checkout people are, I love how festive houses are decorated, I love the smell of real Christmas trees and I love hearing the incidental jingle of bells as decorations are foisted upon houses/trees/shopping centres/unwilling pets. I wouldn’t change the frantic, super happy pace of Christmas for anything.

These little cupcakes are perfect for entertaining in the lead up to Christmas because they’re fast, delightful to look at, and deliver on fresh minitiness. Whip them up, let them cool and ice them as stripily* as you want!

*may or may not be a word!

Chocolate cupcakes

Makes 24 mini cupcakes

• ½ tsp instant coffee
• ¼ cup boiling water
• 1 cup plain flour
• ¼ cup cocoa
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp bicarb soda
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 6 tbsp milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

Mint icing:

• 50g cream cheese
• 30g butter
• 1 cup icing sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ½ tsp peppermint essence

Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare two 12 cup silicone cupcake moulds.

Mix your coffee and boiling water together, set to one side.

Mix the flour, cocoa, sugar and bicarb together in a large bowl. Add the vanilla, egg and milk to the dry ingredients and stir well to combine. Finally, add in the oil and coffee, then mix.

Scoop one big tablespoon of mixture into each cup and pop into the oven for 15-18 minutes.

Mix the cream cheese and butter together with half of the icing sugar until the mixture is smooth. Add the rest of the icing sugar, followed by the vanilla and peppermint essence and mix until all ingredients are combined and an even consistency.

To stripe your icing (like in the picture), dip the tip of a bamboo skewer into red food dye, and draw 8 straight lines on the inside of your piping bag, from the nozzle up. Scoop your icing into the piping bag and pipe onto your cooled cupcake in smooth, circular movements.