These After Eight cupcakes are a mint chocolate lover's dream. The sponge is a rich chocolate, and the creamy, smooth chocolate buttercream has melted After Eights whipped right into it - absolutely stunning.
Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted / 350F).
Put the caster sugar and softened butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat them with an electric mixer or by hand until creamy.
Crack the eggs into the bowl and beat again until just combined.
Add the flour and cocoa powder. Fold everything together - the batter will be quite thick at this stage. through.
Add the milk and fold through again. This will loosen the batter.
Line a 12-hole muffin tray with muffin cases. Divide the batter evenly between them, making sure to level off so that the cupcakes rise evenly.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until risen and firm. A skewer pushed into the centre of a cupcake towards the middle of the tray should come out clean.
Transfer your cupcakes to a wire rack and leave them to cool completely.
Make the After Eight buttercream
Put the butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder and water in a large mixing bowl.
Start beating them together, slowly at first and then building speed once the icing sugar isn't loose. Keep beating until light and smooth – it’s quickest to use an electric whisk or stand mixer for this.
Take 12 of the After Eights and set them aside as these will go on top. Break the remaining After Eights into a small microwave safe bowl.
Put the bowl of broken After Eights in the microwave and zap on full power for 30 seconds. This should be enough to melt them. Give them a good stir - be careful, they are high in sugar so can get very hot.
Allow the melted After Eights to cool so that the mixture can still be stirred but is almost down to room temperature. You don't want it to melt your buttercream.
Once cool, add it to your buttercream and beat until fully combined.
Putting it all together
When the cupcakes are completely cool, transfer the After Eight buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe tall swirls on top of each cupcake.
To finish, grab the 12 After Eights you reserved earlier. Break one in half diagonally to create two triangular pieces and push them into the top of the buttercream. Repeat for all of the cakes.