Candy Cane Cupcakes

Christmas is quickly approaching, so why not get into the Christmas spirit even sooner by making these candy cane cupcakes.

We’re a full week into bakemas already – I can’t believe it! I know that cupcakes aren’t as fashionable as they once were but hey, its Christmas and its the perfect way to enjoy cake, sharing it fairly.

These cupcakes were a last minute bake, I found the candy canes in my Christmas treat box, so thought id make a batch of cupcakes with them. They’re a chocolate and peppermint cupcake, topped with a peppermint and vanilla swirled buttercream, finished with festive sprinkles and a mini candy cane.

I won’t lie, these are by far one of the more festive things I have made this year and they all got consumed pretty quickly!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

 

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

175g butter, at room temperature.

175g granulated sugar.

2 eggs.

1.5 tsp peppermint extract.

150g plain flour.

25g cocoa powder.

1 tsp baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

Milk (1 tablespoon at a time, if needed).

 

Buttercream:

125g granulated sugar.

31ml water.

35g egg yolk.

1 whole egg.

250g butter, at room temperature.

1-2 tsp peppermint extract.

1.5 tsp vanilla extract.

Red and white food colouring.

 

Decoration:

Festive sprinkles.

Mini candy canes.

Method:

Before you get started on any element of the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. I like to start by weighing up all of my ingredients, lining a muffin pan with festive cupcake cases, getting any equipment you need, such as a stand mixer and preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To get started on the cake batter, you’ll want to take a mixing bowl and place in the butter and sugar. Beat the two together until hey are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – mix on a medium-high speed.

Once you’ve achieved the consistency you’d lie, you can add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Repeat the process until you have used all the eggs, also don’t forget to add in the extracts.

Give the bowl a good scraping down, to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in earlier on. Mix on a low speed to start, working up to a medium-high. You may need to add a tablespoon of milk at a time to achieve the perfect consistency.

Transfer the cake batter into the cupcakes cases and fill them about 2/3 of the way full and then place into the preheated oven and bae for 20-22 minutes.

While the cupcakes are in the oven baking, you can work on the buttercream.

To start on the recipe, grab a small-medium saucepan and place in the water and granulated sugar and mix the two until combined, then place on the hob over a medium-high heat. You want this mixture to reach 121˚c, it takes a short while.

While you’re waiting for your mixture to come up to temperature, you can work on the egg part.

Whisk together the egg yolks and whole egg over a medium-high speed until everything is combined and the mixture is a pale yellowish colour and increased a significant amount.

Once your sugar mixture has come up to 121˚c, you can remove it from the heat and steadily pour it over the egg mixture over a low speed. Once all the mixture has been added, crank the speed upto a high and whisk until you can touch the bottom of the bowl with the back of your hand.

Now that the mixture has whisked together and is cool enough, you can start adding your butter, piece by piece. At first, you may notice the mixture looks quite loose and this is normal. As the butter is added and incorporated, the mixture will thicken and start looking like a buttercream.

Split the buttercream and colour one hand red and the other red. Into the red, add peppermint extract and into the white, add vanilla extract.

Alternate blobs into the piping bag (fitted with your nozzle of choice.

Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled, you can go ahead and finish the cupcakes off. Simply pipe your rosettes on top of the cupcakes, sprinkle over as many or as you’d like. Finish each cupcake with a mini candy cane on top of each!

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.