Grasshopper Cupcakes v2.0

These are the treats I made for Tuesday's Guild meeting.  I've made them before and posted here.  The original recipe can be found here.This time around I made a few changes.

 I started by unwrapping 30 mini York peppermint patty candies.  The hardest part was not eating any.  Once they were unwrapped I dumped about a tablespoon of cocoa powder on top of them and tossed them until they were coated.  This would insure their continued placement in the batter as it baked.

Then I poured one box of Devil's food cake mix into a large mixing bowl.  I used the same amount of oil as the box required, but then I ignored the rest.  I substituted 4 eggs and one cup of soured milk (1 c. milk + 1 tablespoon lemon juice) for the water.  [This method is from Hello Cupcake! by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.]

Next I spooned in just enough batter to cover the bottoms of the paper liners ad topped each one with a cocoa coated peppermint patty.  (Say that 5 times fast.)  Then I topped off each liner with batter until they were approximately 2/3 full.

350 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until the tops sprang back when I tapped them.  If you try and stick a toothpick or knife into these guys, it will come out covered in melted peppermint candy.  This recipe yielded 30 cupcakes.

Now for the frosting... 1 stick of butter warmed to room temperature and then creamed.  Nearly a pound of confectioner's sugar went into the butter, alternated with 1/4 cup of milk + 1.5 teaspoons of peppermint extract mixed together.  Once everything was smooth I colored it pastel green.  The only thing I'd do differently is remember the real cream sitting in the refrigerator.  How I could forget about it I do not know.  Anyway there was just enough frosting to ice all 30 cupcakes with no waste. 

FH "volunteered" to try one Monday night so you could see it cut in half.

Ta da!  The last time I made this the peppermint patty sank to the bottom while they baked and created a heck of a mess.  The cocoa powder changed the viscosity enough to hold it in place.  You could also roll them in some of the cake mix, or flour if you were baking a non-chocolate cake.


Originally I planned to have this post update automatically on Wednesday.  In fact I typed it Monday night.  Then all kinds of wonderful people started asking about things to make or send for the Panda Nursery and then I had an epiphany and changed the plans for the interior.  So this post got moved over to Friday.  I am lost in the calendar...it's still actually Tuesday as I type this.