This year, I decided to do individually-packaged cupcakes for coworkers and friends—26 in all. I found a Peppermint Mocha Cupcake recipe on Bakers Royale, which served as the base for the project. I used the foolproof One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart, adding in espresso powder—I wish I had thought to substitute coffee for the warm water. I used Martha’s Swiss Meringue Buttercream (with a bit of peppermint flavor) to top the cakes.
I was a little concerned about the pouring chocolate—I was worried it wouldn’t harden (and therefore be difficult to transport). But the suggestion to freeze the cupcakes before pouring the chocolate worked very well. I added peppermints (and peppermint pieces) to the tops:
We have a fantastic new baking shop downtown where I found these cupcake boxes.
The supplier has stopped making inserts that keep the cupcake stable, so I hot glued a fluted cupcake liner to the bottom, and set the cupcakes inside. It wasn’t the most reliable solution, but with some very careful transportation, the cupcakes seemed remain mostly upright inside the boxes.
We packaged the boxes into sacks, adding a little bottle of homemade Irish Cream with each one.
Smith Family Weblog 
Posted by Doug Smith on December 24, 2011 at 10:03 am
Eat your heart out, Martha Stewart!!
Posted by Laura on December 25, 2011 at 9:02 am
Stunning!! You’re going to need to start including measurements… that must be your tallest cupcake yet!
Posted by Gramma Great on December 25, 2011 at 3:19 pm
And what do you do in your spare time??? Oh, I know, you entertain your family with a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning breakfast! Thanks to all of you. It was a wonderful way to spend “phase one” of the holiday celebrations.