Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 24 regular cupcake tins with paper liners.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and whisk together.

In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With the mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine.

Divide the batter and fill the liners 2/3 full. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on wire racks and turn out to cool completely.

For the frosting:

Cool the bowl and beaters in the freezer for a few minutes. Beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add confectioner’s sugar with the mixer on low speed. Add peppermint extract. Increase speed to medium and beat until frosting is smooth and uniform.

Gently fold in the whipped cream with a spatula until well-incorporated. Transfer frosting to a piping bag fit with a large star tip and decorate cupcakes as desired.

You may need more frosting, so keep some extra ingredients on hand in case you run out. It’s hard for me to say because I made minis too, so I needed to whip up more frosting because I had made more cupcakes. Let me know if you try the recipe out what kind of numbers you got/needed!