Mason Jar Cupcakes

I made these adorable mason jar cupcakes for my mom for her birthday. I made a half batches of my go to chocolate cake recipe, my chocolate ganache recipe, and a Swiss buttercream recipe. To make the cakes a little bit special I adapted the recipes to make a peppermint mocha cupcake. To do this, I used coffee instead of water in the cake, I added a teaspoon of instant coffee to the ganache, and I added about 1/8 tsp peppermint extract to the icing. They turned out delicious! Next time I think I will try adding some instant coffee to the cupcake batter as well.

After making the batter, I put 2-3 tablespoons of batter into each jar. 

Bake the cupcakes at 350 degrees F until done.

After the cupcakes cooled, carve out the center of the cupcake using a teaspoon.

And fill it with the ganache!

Top with the icing, and them eat up!

Look how pretty they are!

I made peppermint mocha cupcakes, as well as chocolate with vanilla icing.

More pictures! I just couldn't resist!

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Chocolate Coffee Cake 

  Ingredients:

• 2 cups SUGAR
• 1 & 3/4 cup FLOUR
• 3/4 cup COCOA POWDER
• 1 & 1/2 tsp BAKING POWDER
• 1 & 1/2 tsp BAKING SODA
• 1 tsp SALT
• 2 EGGS
• 1 cup MILK
• 1/2 cup VEGETABLE OIL
• 2 tsp VANILLA EXTRACT
• 1 cup HOT STRONG COFFEE
• Optional: 1-3 tsp INSTANT COFFEE

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and coating three 8 inch baking dishes in nonstick cooking spray and then flour to make the cake easier to remove from the dish after baking. 
2. In an electric mixer combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
3. Add the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and the boiling water making sure each ingredient is incorporated before adding the next.
4. Divide the batter equally into the three baking dishes and bake for 30-35 minutes.  Bake until you can insert a toothpick and have it come out clean. Let the cakes cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from the baking dishes. 
5. Tip: If you aren't in a rush, wrap each layer of cake cling wrap and put it in the freezer over night (or at lest for a few hours). This makes the cake much easier to assemble!

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Mocha Ganache

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS
• 2/3 cup HEAVY CREAM
• 2 Tbs UNSALTED BUTTER 
• Optional: 2 tsp INSTANT COFFEE

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, heat the heavy cream until it just starts to foam around the edges. Then add the chocolate chips and butter, let the pan sit for a minute. 
2. After a minute, stir until smooth. Now, stir in sifted instant coffee!
3. Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, carve out a small hole in the top of the cupcakes.
4. And fill the hole with ganache!

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Peppermint Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 6 EGG WHITES
• 1 & 1/2 cups SUGAR
• 2 cups POWDERED SUGAR, sifted
• 3/4 cup VEGETABLE SHORTENING, room temperature
• 4 sticks BUTTER, room temperature
• 1 tsp VANILLA EXTRACT
• 1/8 to 1/4 tsp PEPPERMINT EXTRACT

Directions:

1. Start boiling a pot of water to use as a double boiler.
2. Then whisk together the egg whites and granulated sugar over the pot of boiling water. You are just trying to dissolve the sugar into the egg whites so you don't need to do this for very long. Once the mixture has reached 115 degrees F and/or the mixture no longer feels gritty when you rub it between your fingers, then remove the bowl from the heat!
3. It should look something like the picture below.
4. After taking the egg white and sugar mixture off of the heat, place it onto the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on high until stiff peaks form. You want firm, glossy, white peaks!
5. Once you have achieved stiff peaks, add the powdered sugar and continue whisking. (Start slow and increase speed so you don't end up with a face full of powdered sugar!)
6. Once the powdered sugar has incorporated, it is time to start adding in the butter and vegetable shortening. Cut the room temperature butter and vegetable shortening into chunks and add them into the mixer in 2 to 3 additions fairly quickly while the mixer is still whisking on medium to medium-high.
7. Once the ingredients are well incorporated, it should look something like this! Lastly, whisk in the extracts.
8. At this point the icing is pretty much done! I switched over to the paddle attachment for a few minutes to whip up the icing a little more to make it lighter in color as well as in texture.  Now it's time to ice the cake!

Note: This buttercream will keep for 4 days at room temperature, 2 weeks in the fridge, and 2 months in the freezer.

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