Decadent Holiday Cupcakes with Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting

The best part of the holiday season is the food. There is nothing better than Christmas cookies with grandma, Gingerbread houses with friends, or rich, chocolate cupcakes that vanish at Christmas parties. I have always loved peppermint -and who doesn't love chocolate? - so I created a rich, chocolate-filled cupcake with peppermint cream cheese frosting to combine the flavors of the season. The holiday flavors are at their finest in this Hogwarts-feast-worthy, hand-held cake of deliciousness. Plus, its fancy appearance is so simple - I had a toddler help me with it!

This recipe is really three recipes put together. None of them are my own, but I adjusted most of them to better fit the dessert. 

Part 1 - Cake:

I used a boxed Devils Food cake mix. (I know, I know, "Boxed? Laaaaaaaaammeeee!" but it still tasted good.)

To make the cake richer, you can replace the oil with butter, and add an egg to the specified amount on the box. Or just use your favorite cake recipe.

Part 2 - Filling:

To prep the cakes for the chocolate ganache filling, I cut out the centers using the handiest trick ever: an apple corer. You simply stick the corer into the cake - careful not to go all the way through - then twist and move on to the next cupcake. Piece of.....cake!

To make the ganache itself, I used Alton Brown's Ganache recipe, but added more vanilla and some peppermint. You can find the original recipe at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/ganache-recipe.html

Ganache:

3 tablespoons corn syrup

6 ounces heavy cream

12 ounces dark chocolate

1 slightly-overflowing teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Take your chocolate and chop into small chunks. Set aside.

Darn! No golden ticket for me.

Begin by combining the corn syrup and cream in a medium saucepan. 

Bring to a simmer, then remove from heat. Add the chocolate and extracts, stirring until smooth. 

Once your ganache is smooth, pour it into a bag (I used a sandwich bag so that I could make the tip really tiny) and pipe into previously-cut-out cupcakes. Let the ganache firm up while you make your frosting.

Part 3 - Frosting:

For my frosting I used another Food Network recipe, and, once again, added peppermint to tie in the holiday theme. the original recipe can be found  at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/cream-cheese-frosting-recipe.html

 I had to double the recipe and add more of several ingredients to reach the right consistency, so it probably ended up with 2.5-3 times the original recipe. I know that some people don't like cream cheese frosting, so you can substitute your favorite frosting recipe for this one (I imagine a nice buttercream would do just as well), just remember to add the peppermint. 

Here is the recipe (the measurements are already doubled)

8 ounces unsalted butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5-10 full-sized candy canes

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla and peppermint extract. add either more powdered sugar or cream until you reach your desired consistency.

Next grab a toddler, the candy canes, and a mallet, then head outside for some smashing. 

I would recommend smashing the candy canes as small as possible, since the large chunks kept clogging my pipping tip. In the end, I took off the tip, but if you want to be able to pipe nice tops, then go with finer pieces. 

fold the candy into your frosting, then pipe onto your cupcakes. (Again, I did not use a tip, but used my  tip couppler as a tip on its own.)

Once they were frosted I added chocolate curls (shaved off of Hershey's chocolate bars), and voila! Cupcake perfection!