Peppermint, Chocolate and Fluffy Frosting…Who Could Ask For More?

Peppermint Swirl Cupcakes: Dark chocolate cupcakes with a decadent frosting that uses 1 pound of butter (seriously). How could you go wrong?

Start by making the dark chocolate cupcakes–bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the Swiss meringue frosting. This frosting is special. Really special. One pound of butter (and a whole lot of love) provide the base. Bring a saucepan of water to a gentle boil. Place egg whites and sugar in a bowl, then set it on top of the saucepan for a double-boiler situation. You don’t want the bottom of the bowl to touch the water–just close enough that it helps raise the temperature of the egg whites.

Stirring often, cook over the boiling water until the temperature reaches 165°F. You don’t want to scramble the eggs; just heat them enough to make them food-safe.

Remove the bowl from the heat and add 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. (You really want to use a stand mixer for this part if you can; it makes a tough job a little easier. If you don’t have a stand mixer, a hand mixer will work; it’ll just take a little longer.)

Now comes the fun part–cut the butter into chunks. Add a few pieces at a time, beating well after each addition. At some point, it will probably look like the mixture is a bit curdled, but that’s okay. Just keep beating it!

Once all of the butter has been added, mix in the peppermint extract and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Now it’s time to get artsy. Remove about 1/2 cup of frosting into a separate bowl and tint with red food coloring. Spread 4-5 stripes of the red frosting on the inside of a piping bag.

Stand the piping bag in a glass and spoon in the white frosting.

Now pipe away! Look at that beautiful red swirl you get from the red stripes.

Now try to see if you can hold off for longer than a half second to devour these amazingly awesome cupcakes.