Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcakes always look so beautiful when you add a lot of height to them.  However, I'm not a huge fan of a ton of frosting.  To solve my dilemma,  I came up with the simple idea that you can have a little bit of frosting but then pile it high with flavored whipped cream.  You get the gorgeous look while keeping it light and airy.  These started out as an experiment but have been a HUGE hit with friends and family so I love to make them for special occasions.

If you have a chocolate cake recipe that you already like, feel free to use it.  I used to use box mixes for this but I recently fell in love with a recipe from my friend Ali's cookbook called "When Life Gives You a Chocolate Craving".  She has given me permission to post it here for all you fine folks.  Enjoy!

Ingredients for the batter:

1 c water

1 c butter

6 Tbsp cocoa

2 c flour

2 c sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp basking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c sour cream

Directions for the batter:
Boil the water, butter and cocoa in a small saucepan.  In a large bowl, layer the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Pour the sugar on top of the flour mixture.  Pour the boiling mixture on top of the sugar (this creates a fudge-like reaction as the two combine).  Add eggs and sour cream and mix until all ingredients are combined.

Other ingredients:
8.5 oz bag Andes Creme de Menthe Thins
1 recipe chocolate frosting (or buy premade from the store)
1 c heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp pure mint extract
green food coloring

Other directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare your cupcake pan with paper cupcake liners, then fill the liners with cake batter to about 2/3 full.  Cut 24 Andes mints in half (widthwise), and push both mint halves down into the center of each cupcake.  Bake the cupcakes for 18-20 minutes.  Once they've cooled, top them with a layer of chocolate frosting.  Use a star tip to pipe a pretty swirl.  In a chilled bowl, beat together the whipping cream, sugar, and pure mint extract.  Add a few drops of green food coloring to give it a minty color.  Put the flavored whipped cream in a piping bag already prepped with a large star tip.  Pipe the whipped cream on top of the chocolate frosting and top it off with a whole Andes Mint.