I made these for my birthday last week (it’s office tradition to bring your own treats to share . . . kind of like preschool, actually). The recipe is from Martha Stewart Cupcakes. I used the one-bowl chocolate cupcake recipe, which I know I have raved about before. I added mint extract and cut down on the vanilla just a bit. The cakes are super fast and very moist.
The frosting is fresh mint buttercream, made by steeping fresh mint leaves in milk. I can’t say I’ll make this again–it was extremely complicated and time consuming. And, in the end, it tasted like minty butter. It did set up nicely for frosting, though, and this giant star tip is quickly becoming my favorite.
I topped each cupcake with a leaf, which I made by painting melted chocolate on the back of a mint leaf and peeling it off.
Smith Family Weblog 
Posted by Laura on March 15, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Beautiful! I made Martha’s maple buttercream for some cupcakes for Josh’s birthday, and I had the same reaction — it just tasted like butter with a little maple flavor. I thought I had done something wrong, but if you got a similar result, maybe I wasn’t crazy. Do you have other buttercream recipes that you recommend?
Posted by Rebecca on March 16, 2010 at 3:26 pm
I like this one, Laura–very simple and easy.
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/vanilla-buttercream-for-potted-mums