Chocolate and Mint Ice Cream Cupcakes

In addition to the Chocolate and Mint Giant Cupcake that I baked for the Macmillan Information Centre, I also made these chocolate and mint ice cream cupcakes. I used the same chocolate cake mixture and mint buttercream icing but I added chocolate chips to the buttercream icing to make it a mint chocolate chip icing! I also made some chocolate ganache to go on top and decorated it with sprinkles and a cherry on top. 

I'm entering this to Treat Petite hosted by Kat from The Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is 'Who will you bake for?' in conjunction with World Baking Day on May 18th. I baked these for my local Macmillan Information Centre and I hope they were impressed with them. 

I'm also sending it to the Biscuit Barrel Challenge hosted by Laura from I'd Much Rather Bake Than... The theme this month is favourites. Chocolate and mint is one of my favourite flavour combinations and I also love ice cream and ice cream cupcakes. 

This would also fit in nicely with this month's Calendar Cakes challenge hosted by Rachel from Dolly Bakes as the theme is Bank Holiday Bakes and we are asked to share what we make to relax, share with friends or take on picnics. 

 I used some foil to support the ice cream cones whilst baking. Try not to overfill the cones as I did here - 2/3 full is more than enough 

 I used an ice cream scoop to place a scoop of mint chocolate chip icing on top 

 Drizzled some ganache on top 

 added some sprinkles 

 and a cherry on top! You can also pipe a 'star' of whipped cream before adding the cherry for added decadence. 

 I used the ganache as a 'glue' to stick the cones to a cake board. They were still a little wobbly and have to be transported with great care. 

For the chocolate cake, follow the link for Nigella's Old fashioned chocolate cake - I used about 1/2 a cake recipe to make 9 ice cream cones - as mentioned in my previous post, I made a double recipe and used it to make 1 giant cupcake and 9 ice cream cones.

For the buttercream frosting - feel free to halve the quantities, I made a large batch as I needed it for my giant cupcake and these ice cream cupcakes

300g butter
600g icing sugar
1 tablespoon peppermint extract + 1 teaspoon (or adjust to taste)
a few drops of milk
green food colouring

100g chocolate chips 

For the chocolate ganache

100mls double cream

75g dark chocolate, chopped 

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Prepare the cake batter as instructed.
• Place a ring of foil as shown to support the ice cream cones in a cupcake tin. 
• Carefully fill each ice cream cone until about 2/3 full - do not overfill as the cake will spill over. 
• Bake for about 15-18 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool completely before decorating. 
• Make the icing by beating the butter and icing sugar until smooth. Add in the peppermint extract and green food colouring. You may need to add a few drops of milk depending on the consistency required.
• Finally stir in the chocolate chips by hand. 
• To make the chocolate ganache, heat the cream in a small saucepan until just boiling. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted.
• Keep stirring until smooth. 
• Decorate as shown above