It’s Christmas cupcake time! If you’re a fan of White chocolate and peppermint, then this recipe is sure to put you in the festive spirit.
A moist and fluffy vanilla cupcake is flavoured with peppermint extract, and topped with a deliciously creamy white chocolate buttercream, then finished with crushed peppermint candy canes. Perfect!
I am a bit obsessed with White chocolate, so I always like to use a good quality White chocolate in all of my recipes. To get that nice and creamy White chocolate taste, I recommend using Milkybar, Lindt or a luxury supermarket version. Avoid budget versions as they lack flavour and rarely taste like White chocolate.
Peppermint extract can be bought in most supermarkets – I got mine in Sainsburys. I use 1 tsp which is just enough to give a subtle flavour, along with the vanilla. It works perfectly.
The crushed candy canes are optional, but I think they just finish off the whole peppermint theme and they look pretty! I used a Wilton 1M star piping tip for the buttercream, but you can also just spoon the buttercream onto the cupcakes if you prefer.
I also had some White chocolate star sprinkles knocking about in the cupboard that I also used, but you can use White chocolate chips, White chocolate curls or whatever you fancy.
Happy Christmas baking!
White Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 170 g Baking spread or Butter
- 170 g Caster sugar
- 170 g Self-raising flour
- 3 Free-range eggs medium
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract or Vanilla bean paste
- 1 tsp Peppermint extract
For the buttercream
- 270 g Good quality White chocolate I used Milkybar
- 180 g Butter
- 130 d Icing sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract or Vanilla bean paste
- 1-2 tbsp Milk
- 5 Candy canes crushed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160 Fan. Line a 12 hole cupcake/muffin tin and set aside.
- Using a mixer, cream together the sugar and Stork/Butter until light and fluffy- around 3 minutes.
- Gradually add the eggs, vanilla extract, peppermint extract and flour until well combined- around 20 seconds. Be careful not to overmix.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 cases using an ice-cream scoop. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Remove the cupcakes from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, take them out of the tin and leave to cool completely.
- For the buttercream, melt the White chocolate in 20-30 second bursts in the microwave on low, then set aside to cool for around 15 minutes.
- Using a mixer, cream the butter for 1 minute, then gradually add the icing sugar. Mix until pale and fluffy, around 3-5 minutes. Add the vanilla, melted white chocolate and milk. Mix again until just combined.
- Using a disposable piping bag, pipe a swirl of buttercream onto each cupcake using a Wilton 1M star tip.
- Place the candy canes into a sandwich bag and crush with a rolling pin. Sprinkle on top of each cupcake.
