The Best Andes Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

These Andes Mint Chocolate Cupcakes are the best, with their moist, chocolate cupcake base topped with a beautiful swirl of the most perfect mint buttercream frosting.  They are decadent, to say the least.  If you are an Andes Mint lover, you’ll fit right in around here!

This past week I was asked by my neighbor if I’d be willing to make a few dozen cupcakes for a church function my husband and I would be attending.  Having a love for baking, I said yes of course.  When I began brainstorming flavors, I decided I wanted to make a few different kinds to give everyone choices.

This Andes Mint Chocolate Cupcake was my favorite that night, although the white chocolate raspberry mousse and triple chocolate mousse cupcakes came in as a close second and third.  I’m hoping to share those recipes over the next few weeks.  So stay tuned.

There’s just something about the rich chocolate and sweet mint that made these cupcakes my favorite.

When I’m in a time crunch or need a quick dessert, I love using a cake mix as a base and doctor it up with a few ingredients.  This recipe was just that.  It was quick to make with this method and still tasted fabulous as if it were made from scratch.

I love adding a moisture-adding ingredient that locks in flavor and, you guessed it, adds moisture.  A lot of people use pudding for this.   I love to use sour cream.  It adds the moisture and also a nice flavor.  Buttermilk can also do the same thing, especially when replacing water.

To kick up the flavor when doctoring a cake mix, I like to replace the oil and water and also add a few extra things.  I replace the oil with butter (everything’s better with butter, right? 😉 ).  I always add an extra egg to give it a denser texture and I also replace the water with milk, buttermilk, or cream.  This makes a cupcake or cake taste richer and homemade in my opinion.

I also always add vanilla.  If you can get your hands on Mexican clear vanilla, it’s great.  It has a tropical taste and is very sweet.  Madagascar and Tahitian vanilla are also excellent.  I tend to avoid vanilla extract (even pure vanilla extract) because it smells like alcohol more than anything.  Adding vanilla, whatever kind you have, is a fabulous way to add that homemade touch without a lot of effort.

Just a note on the mint flavoring in this recipe.  Andes Mints are Creme De Menthe flavored.  You can find this flavoring here.  Peppermint is a much stronger mint flavor.  Creme De Menthe is more subtle and sweet.  I would not recommend replacing the Creme De Menthe with peppermint unless you what peppermint cupcakes and to clean out your sinuses.

This recipe is quick and easy AND turns out beautiful!  To make this recipe even easier, I love using my D20 scoop.  It’s the perfect size for a regular muffin or cupcake.  I also love using my cake decorating tips to give the frosting on these gorgeous cupcakes a beautiful look.

This is the Andes Mints pack I bought for this recipe. You can find them here.

You can find the full printable recipe here.

What’s your favorite mint dessert?

Check back next week for the recipe for these decedent, Easy Triple Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes.

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