Considering my love affair with all things chocolate mint, it’s not exactly a surprise that these cupcakes are a regular fixture within my baking arsenal. I’ve long been a fan of the mint Aero, with its crisp chocolate shell and delicate green-hued bubbly interior, but it took a longing stare into the vending machine at work for me to cotton on to the fact that it would be a rather chic decoration for a cupcake!
These were first created as a birthday treat for a colleague, affectionately known as Monty – which has since earned them the name of Chocolate Monty Aero Cupcakes. A light-textured, dark chocolate sponge base, topped with a pale green mint buttercream swirl and a slice of mint Aero. Since I first made these, the Aero has been redesigned in a new shape bar, which in my opinion; isn’t a patch on the original in terms of cake decorating possibilities. I’m sure that half an After Eight mint sliced diagonally on top would also look good, or even a simple chocolate button.
I’m not usually one for ingredients snobbery, but my one piece of advice here is to use the best quality mint extract that you can afford. Although mint flavouring works, it’s just isn’t as fresh as an extract – you really do get what you pay for, and a better quality extract lasts longer as you don’t need to use as much. I’ve found the ones produced by Waitrose and Lakeland particularly good. You also need to use cocoa powder here rather than drinking chocolate to get a nice deep flavour and colour.
These pretty but simple cupcakes have also been a big hit at bake sales in the office, so much so that I’ve been asked for the recipe on several occasions – so here it is…