Peppermint Twist

I have abandoned my blog over the past year - half by accident and half on purpose. I wasn't very good at posting in a timely manner, so I decided not to bother. However, after reading through some other baking blogs for ideas, and showing off my own accomplishments, I have decided that I like the idea of having one place to keep all the tasty treats I've made. (Whether anyone reads or comments or not.) So the next couple of posts will be about catching up on some baking I've done in the past year.

This Christmas, I wasn't sure what I was going to make. I thought about stepping out on a limb and trying something new - not just the cupcakes that everyone has come to expect. Plus, I wanted something that wouldn't be quite as time consuming. Then I had a pre-Christmas lunch with Ginger. And after lunch, I helped her make the cutest peppermint cupcakes for her church Christmas party. I knew I had to make them too.

After stealing the idea, I went shopping. Mine turned out a little different, due to the colors of candy canes and sprinkles that I had available.

I debated whether to make chocolate cupcakes or yellow. I should have gone with chocolate... At the last minute, I decided to try to turn a box of yellow cake mix into chocolate cake - because chocolate and peppermint just sounds good together! I googled different solutions for adding cocoa powder to the yellow cake mix and decided to give it a try. It didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. I ended up with a slightly brown, less moist cake that didn't really taste like any particular flavor. It was about the same color as a spice cake, and I wasn't able to taste any of the cocoa. I was short on time, and they weren't terrible, so I had to go with it. Next time, I will just get the box of devils food mix.

The icing, however, did not disappoint me. I made my regular Wilton recipe and substituted peppermint extract for the butter flavor. The mint was tasty and not overpowering. In the interest of saving time, I decided that white icing would work just fine and didn't add any coloring.

All in all, they were cute cupcakes for minimal time spent. I might have to try this recipe again with chocolate cake though.