Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

For the birthday of a co-worker which happened to fall on the same day as our organization’s Holiday social, I volunteered to make a baked good. I immediately steered toward the suggestion of cupcakes, and as I am new and do not know the co-worker well began both suggesting holiday flavors as well as asking for help selecting a flavor. Everyone was intrigued by my new favorite online cook, Annie Eat’s, and the sound of her Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes. So here I am recreating them:

I started with these quality ingredients:

I put all the dry ingredients, save the sugars, into a bowl. They seemed happy to be together:

After mixing, there was peace and love:

I joined the wet ingredients together in a heat-safe liquid measuring cup:

I put the sugars and butter into the mixer bowl:

And creamed them together:

Beautiful batter:

Then I added everything together to make a beautifully rich mocha batter:

I fill my cupcake wells very full because I just LOVE the way the cupcakes “muffin-top” over the sides of the (once festively beautiful) papers:

As they cooled, I set about to making the Swiss merengue buttercream icing. I started with these fine ingredients:

I set the mixer bowl in a pot of boiling water on the stovetop and used a food thermometer to ensure that they reached the appropriate temperature:

Then I whipped the heck out of them:

Then I added literally the most butter I’ve ever put in something:

There were about 400 comments on the original recipe and the corresponding pieces on Swiss merengue buttercream (or SMBC as Annie Eat’s calls it) about this either coming together perfectly or not coming together at all. As the original author of the recipe states, it is, like many a recipe, all about following the recipe and having patience. I had no problem getting a rich buttery icing:

I tried to create her rich swirled technique but was not using the best coloring. I have upgraded for the future and am eager to try out something else in need of vibrant icing. The mini candycanes really sold it for my co-workers. These were an instant hit:

YUM!