Hot chocolate cupcakes with peppermint buttercream frosting

I have had an exciting and memorable yet busy December! Earlier in the month was Evan's 29th birthday. I made him Street Fighter cupcakes (they didn't exactly turn out how I imagined, so I didn't post them here). Then, my dad's side of the family came in for an early Christmas get together. My parents had more than 20 people at their house! It was so great seeing everyone. I spent s lot of time finishing up Christmas shopping and a bunch of DIY projects I was making for my family, Evan's family, and my friends. THEN, on Dec. 22, my wonderful Evan took me to the park to look at Christmas lights and he PROPOSED!! Needless to say, I've been a bit preoccupied and didn't get to post any of the Christmas-themed cupcakes I made this month.

For my day's family Christmas celebration I made hoot chocolate cupcakes (basically, they're chocolate with mini marshmallows baked in them) and then I made my buttercream frosting, but instead of adding vanilla, I added peppermint extract. SO YUMMY! Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love sprinkles, so this year I bought a bunch of different kinds so I could make s few different cupcakes. Personally, I think the ones with peppermint crunch looked especially adorable, but my absolute favorites were my snowflake cupcakes! I used some silver sugar sprinkles to look glistening snow and then sprinkled the snowflakes on top! They all turned out nicely. I made a lot of compliments on them.

I then made a dozen of just chocolate (no marshmallows) with peppermint buttercream for a good friend of mine who celebrated a birthday last week. I have been one very busy girl! Can't wait to start brainstorming new cupcakes for 2013!!