Mint Chocolate Aero Cupcakes

Easy to make mint chocolate cupcakes with two toned mint and chocolate buttercream, decorated with Aero chocolate

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword Cupcake

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 20

Total Time 1 5

Servings

Calories 477kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

175 g Butter or baking spread unsalted, softened
175 g Caster sugar also known as superfine sugar
3 Eggs large
2 tbsp Milk
1 tsp Peppermint extract
150 g Self raising flour
25 g Cocoa powder
¼ tsp Baking powder

For the mint green buttercream

100 g Butter unsalted, softened
200 g Icing sugar
1 tsp Peppermint extract
1-2 tbsp Milk
Green food colouring

For the chocolate buttercream

100 g Butter unsalted, softened
170 g Icing sugar
30 g Cocoa powder
2 tbsp Milk

For decoration

24 Aero Bubbles
12 Chunks of Aero bar

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 140C Fan/325F/Gas Mark 3, and line a cupcake tin with cupcake cases
For the cupcake sponge, mix together the butter and caster sugar, ideally using an electric mixer, for 5 minutes until smooth and fluffy
Add the eggs, peppermint extract and milk and whisk them in well
Then gently whisk in the self raising flour, baking powder and cocoa powder
Divide the mixture between the cupcakes cases, and bake them for 25-30 minutes or until a thin skewer inserted in the centre of the cupcakes comes out clean. Put them on a rack to cool completely
Make the green mint buttercream by mixing together the softened butter, peppermint extract, milk and icing sugar until smooth. You can do this by hand, but an electric whisk or stand mixer with paddle attachment will provide the best results. If the buttercream is too stiff, you can add a little more milk
Then add a small amount of green food colouring and mix until a pastel green shade is reached. You can add more food colouring if needed
Make the chocolate buttercream by mixing together the softened butter, cocoa powder, milk and icing sugar, and mix until smooth. You can do this by hand, but an electric whisk or stand mixer with paddle attachment will provide the best results. If the buttercream is too stiff, you can add a little more milk
Fill a piping bag fitted with your chosen nozzle, with the gren mint buttercream on one side and the chocolate buttercream on the other side
Spread or pipe the buttercream on top of the cupcakes
Decorate with the Aero Bubbles and chunks of Aero Bar
Store in an airtight container in a cool place and eat within 3 days

Video

Notes

Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the butter and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
I used a baking spread for the cupcakes and unsalted butter for the buttercream.
I recommend using a good quality peppermint extract for the perfect minty flavour. And you don't need a lot of it to get the right balance of mint versus chocolate. Remember that with peppermint, a little goes a long way!
You can decorate the cupcakes with any mint chocolate sweet, I chose Aero but other yummy options include After Eights, Mint Matchmakers or Bendicks.
The two toned buttercream is also optional. If you want all chocolate or all mint buttercream, just double the ingredients for your buttercream of choice.
For the green buttercream I used a professional grade food colouring. These types of food colouring not only provide excellent colour results, but they are gel based so they do not make the buttercream sloppy. They are also easily available for purchase online. My favourite brands are Pro Gel and Sugarflair. Other good quality brands are Colour Mill and Americolor.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

Nutrition