Trim the tree, deck the halls, and make some festive cupcakes to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year! Chocolate meets mint is the perfect Christmas flavour. In these gluten free cupcakes you get a double chocolate hit! Dark cocoa-based chocolate cupcakes make the perfect base for this show-stopping white chocolate buttercream spiked with peppermint extract.
Our house has officially been ‘Christmas-ed’. The tree is up and ablaze with lights, the table is decorated with a runner my grandmother hand stitched for me, and the gingerbread house cookie jar is permanently ensconced on the bench for the next month (and a bit…). Oh – and all things Christmas are coming out of my oven and onto the blog for you to make and share in the spirit of the season! I’m so happy to bring you these cupcakes today because they are Christmas in cupcake form.
These cupcakes start with my gluten free chocolate cake recipe (the same one used in this wondrous creation) and they bake up tall, moist, and deeply chocolaty. The key to these gluten free cupcakes success? Greek yoghurt. It’s the best thing for replacing the protein lacking in gluten free flours. Every time I make a gluten free cupcake or cake without Greek yoghurt I have a flop. With it? Success. It has taken many, many failed chocolate cupcake and cake recipes for me to create this perfect gluten free chocolate cupcake and I am so happy to share it with you! So treat yo-self!
This makes a large batch of cupcakes – perfect for Christmas entertaining or gifting! If you want a smaller batch see my notes in the header of the recipe. But enough about the cupcakes – let’s talk about the frosting! (a.k.a the best part, no matter what my sister says). This frosting starts with the base of a really good vanilla frosting – and then it get’s cray. Sorry that I just said cray. I promise I won’t say it again. To this buttercream base we add melted white chocolate (<— I want to face dive into that bowl up there. You too?) and a 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract. And then the Christmas wonderland begins.
If you want to take these cupcakes really over the top (because of course you do: it’s Christmas!) you can sprinkle them with choc-mint bits. If you can’t find them, simply pop some after dinner mints in the freezer and then chop them up super fine.
Share these cupcakes with your friends, bring them to your Christmas gatherings, or share them with co-workers (mine were overjoyed with this morning tea treat). Take some time out from the maddening crowd and bake yourself up a decadent Christmas treat.
Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Peppermint Frosting
Gluten Free | Makes 30 cupcakes | Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days
Note: to make a smaller batch, simply halve the amounts of ingredients listed here. Using a scale to weigh the ingredients makes this a much easier task.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (90 grams) cocoa
- 3/4 cup (200 grams) Greek yoghurt
- 3/4 cup (185mL/ 185 grams) warm water
- 120 grams (1 scant cup) buckwheat flour
- 100 grams (1/2 cup + 1 tbs) white rice flour
- 100 grams (1 scant cup) brown rice flour
- 100 grams (3/4 cup) sorghum flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 300 grams butter, softened
- 2 cups (400 grams) caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
For the frosting
- 200 grams white chocolate melted and cooled
- 200 grams butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 750 grams icing sugar (gluten free)
- Choc-peppermint bits (or chopped up after dinner mints)
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180C (350F) and butter and line two 12-cup cupcake tins with papers.
- In a medium bowl whisk together cocoa, warm water and Greek yoghurt until very smooth.
- In another medium mixing bowl whisk together buckwheat flour, white rice flour, brown rice flour, sorghum flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In the bowl of a standmixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl using a handmixer) beat together butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time and beat until well incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between additions. Mix in vanilla.
- Turn your mixer to low speed and mix in flour in two parts alternating with the cocoa mixture. Beat until combined.
- Divide batter evenly between cupcake papers. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a wooden skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Remove cupcakes from the oven, cool for 5 minutes in the tins, then place on a wire rack and cool completely before frosting.
- To make the frosting place the butter in the bowl of a standmixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using a handheld mixer) and beat until light in colour and creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Add melted and cooled white chocolate, icing sugar, vanilla extract, and milk and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Fit a piping bag with your choice of decorating tip, spoon frosting into bag and frost the top of the cupcakes.
If you are looking for some more choc-mint action for your weekend baking try these 17 candy cane delights.