My 16 year old daughter, Eleanor, is obsessed with making cupcakes and cakes lately! For Christmas she got a cake decorating kit and lessons, and she has been making sweets constantly ever since. Last week she made these Double Chocolate Mint cupcakes, which are perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. The are chocolate cupcakes filled with chocolate mousse and topped with mint flavored whipped cream frosting, and they tasted amazing.
Eleanor used a boxed cake mix to make the chocolate cupcakes for the base. Then after they cooled she cut out a hole in the middle of the cupcakes and filled it with chocolate mousse. Her brother volunteered to eat all the cake cut out from the middle of the cupcakes, because he is helpful like that!
You can see from the picture that she didn’t get the mousse as smooth as it was supposed to be, but it still tasted great, so who cares! Plus the frosting covered it all up anyway.
Then she made a whipped cream icing to top the cupcakes off with. She modified this recipe for frosting from Allrecipes.com, and it was delicious. It uses a little cream cheese to make the frosting thicker, and it worked very well and it was easy to pipe onto the cupcakes. She wanted a frosting that was rich but not overly sweet, and this was perfect.
I was a little dubious about putting chocolate mousse in the middle of the cupcakes, but it was delicious. The only drawback is that they had to be refrigerated after they were made, but they were eaten so fast that wasn’t a big problem!
Double Chocolate Mint Cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day
Ingredients
Cake
- chocolate cake mix and ingredients from box to make
Mousse:
- 2 Tablespoon butter
- 4 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon mint extract
- green food coloring
- 2 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Bake cupcakes from cake mix and let cool, following the directions on the box.
- To make the chocolate mousse first heat the butter and chocolate together in a double boiler over low heat. We have found that a double boiler works much better than the microwave, even though the microwave seems quicker! Stir the mixture thoroughly until it is all melted and smooth. I think this is where Eleanor messed up up on our cupcakes, because the chocolate wasn't all quite melted.
- Then add the 3 egg yolks and stir completely. Put the mixture in the refrigerator while you whip the egg whites and cream
- Whip the egg whites with 1/8 c. of the sugar until stiff peaks form. Set the egg whites aside, clean out the mixer bowl, and whip the cream with the remaining 1/8 c. sugar until soft peaks form.
- Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture gently, and then fold in the cream. Refrigerate for about half an hour.
- Meanwhile, cut out the center of the cupcakes and put the extra cake aside. Once the mousse has chilled a little spoon it into the cupcakes and refrigerate the cupcakes to set the mousse.
- To make the frosting mix the cream cheese, sugar, food coloring and mint extract in the mixer. Then slowly add in the cream, whipping until the frosting is smooth and creamy.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition facts are estimates.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12Amount Per Serving: Calories: 388 Saturated Fat: 19g Cholesterol: 134mg Sodium: 114mg Carbohydrates: 17g Fiber: 1g Sugar: 13g Protein: 4g
Sarah BB @ East9thStreet says
February 18, 2013 at 2:25 pmI can be helpful like her brother too – just let me know ANYTIME you need the help! LOL! They Look delicious. I’m loving all these recipes.
@Mommy_Jennof3 says
February 18, 2013 at 3:00 pmThat looks like a little slice of heaven!!! Thanks for sharing!
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell says
February 18, 2013 at 3:11 pmTwo of my favorite flavors together. Looks delicious!
Danielle says
February 18, 2013 at 3:18 pmYum! I love how creative she got with these cupcakes. And you cannot go wrong with chocolate mousse.
Anne Younger says
February 18, 2013 at 3:54 pmCan you send these to my house please? I think I could devour a dozen of them right now!
Virginia from That Bald Chick says
February 18, 2013 at 5:20 pmBox them badboys up and send them my way!
Carey Jane Clark says
February 18, 2013 at 6:29 pmWow! How wonderful is it that she’s so interested in baking! Where did she take her lessons? This sounds like a fun activity have kids involved in.
Pam says
February 18, 2013 at 8:37 pmOh my goodness! Those are like a triple treat. How wonderful that she has developed an interest in baking.
Meghan @JaMonkey says
February 18, 2013 at 8:44 pmThese look so tasty!
Jen @ Jen Spends says
February 18, 2013 at 9:35 pmThose look fabulous! I have the worst sweet tooth these days.
Jamie says
February 18, 2013 at 10:57 pmCare to send me a few my way? 😉 lol
Colby Shipwash says
February 19, 2013 at 2:31 amOkay that looks and sounds really good, and will need to try in the coming weeks.
Great Post.
Mumseword says
February 19, 2013 at 9:04 amthey look great!!!!
Maryann says
February 19, 2013 at 2:59 pmwhat a great job she did.
Jennifer The Quirky Momma says
February 19, 2013 at 11:09 pmThose look amazing! I think you should send your daughter over to my house for a cupcake weekend!
fayedavis says
February 20, 2013 at 5:40 amI love mint and chocolate candies but never tried it in cupcakes. This is work cooking in the kitchen.
Sheri says
February 20, 2013 at 12:03 pmOh yum…they look delicious!
Dawn Lopez says
February 22, 2013 at 10:19 pmYummy! What a fantastic idea!!
Kiersten @ Oh My Veggies says
February 23, 2013 at 8:05 pmYou can never go wrong with mint and chocolate together! 🙂
Erica says
February 25, 2013 at 8:22 amMy least favorite thing about cupcakes is the actual cupcake, so this would solve that problem 😉
April Golightly says
February 25, 2013 at 8:25 amThis looks yummy! 🙂
Ellen Christian says
February 27, 2013 at 10:09 amI love the idea of adding mousse into the center. It sounds so tempting!
DaLynn McCoy says
February 27, 2014 at 6:21 pmThese sound so yummy! We’ll have to give them a try. Thanks so much!
Lori Who Needs A Cape? says
March 12, 2014 at 9:00 amThese sounds so yummy! Pinning 🙂