Mint Slice Cupcakes

KELSEY :
 Speaking from the heart. the cake part of these sucked. Just make the most amazing mint middle and the great melted chocolate ganache scoop up each with a spoon and eat that because it is the best part. I tried one on the day we made it and didn't like it of the ones at Lauren's party. but i love the middle and topping. It was different making these without Lauren,, and it felt more of a chore rather then fun. I talked to Mrs. Roberts though and that was nice while I waited for Lauren to come back after being gone for a whole hour. I did all the dishes in silence, nay fun.

LAUREN:

Okay, so Mint Slice Cupcakes. Be prepared to read more of what Kelsey has to say about these cupcakes, seeing as I wasn't there for like.. almost the entire baking of these because I went to Emily's graduation party while he baked them at my house! I was around for the tail end though, I'll do my best to tell you what I thought.
The unusual thing about these cupcakes were that they had filling. And not just the filling you would put in the batter while cooking, but for these cupcakes you had to first; make the filling. Second; refrigerate the filling. Third; make the cupcakes. Fourth; Cut the baked cupcakes in half. And fifth: spread the filling on one of the halves and then stick them together. It's not that hard to do, but there are a few general rules you should stick by. It was very hard for us to get these cupcakes to look as good as they did in the book, they just looked messy and sticky. No matter what they look like, they taste delicious. But if you want them to look pretty too, make sure you give yourself plenty of time. The peppermint filling (which by the way only called for 2 or 3 drops or peppermint extract and we used like 8 because supposedly that made them taste more like 'junior mints'), is said in the book to be "refrigerated until using." Which we did, but that meant they were only in the fridge for the 25 or so minutes it took us to bake the actual cupcakes and have them cool. Once we did that and tried to spread the peppermint, it was extremely smooth and almost syrupy, so when the top half of the cupcakes was placed on, it would slide around and the peppermint filling would run all over the bottom of the cupcakes. All in all, not pretty, especially compared to the book's picture where it was a nice clean layer of white. Then secondly, the chocolate glaze stuff (I'm sure there is a better word for it out there) is supposed to drip over the sides. Ours didn't. It was way too solid instead of liquid, and we were also putting it on the cupcakes really frugally because we didn't know how far it had to go. The picture on the below is our first round of cupcakes without adhering to the following recommendations. This is what I would recommend for anyone making these cupcakes:

1. Make the peppermint filling either the day before, or make it the day of but let it refrigerate overnight before using. This makes it still spreadable but a lot more condensed so it would be drippy and messy.
2. Let the cupcakes cool, a lot. Even when ours cooled for 10 minutes, they were still a little crummy which made the crumbs fall into the peppermint filling. My recommendation would be to make the filling and the cupcakes one day, but them BOTH in the fridge (the cupcakes taste way better cold), and then frost them the next day.

3. However, you should put the chocolate glaze on them over top the day of the cupcake making, because that will solidify if you let it cool or sit out too long. So make the cupcakes, peppermint filling, and chocolate glaze one day. Cut the cupcakes in half that day too, and drizzle the chocolate covering on, and DO NOT be frugal with it, pile it on, or else it will not drip over the sides like it should. Then refrigerate the cupcakes and the filling separately and frost with the filling the next day before serving.

But aside from our learning experience, they turned out delicious! I hope those instructions weren't too confusing.. well never mind I know they were. Good luck deciphering those!! We frosted the rest of them the next day after being refrigerated and they looked just as good as in their photo. I served these at my graduation party on a long thin white plate with Junior Mints around them, and I got a lot of compliments on them! I thought they tasted so good; really refreshing and filling. I would definitely advise you serve them cold after being refrigerated: this dries them out just a little but in my opinion, they tasted way better cold!