christmas wreath cupcakes - chocolate cupcakes with peppermint cream cheese frosting

I saw these wreath cupcakes in my Martha Stewart "Cupcakes" book last year, but never had a chance to make them last Christmas.  So this year I had to make them!  I started by baking chocolate cupcakes, and then whipped up a batch of peppermint cream cheese frosting to top it with (basically a standard cream cheese frosting with about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoons of peppermint extract added to it).

Before adding any coloring, I first used the white frosting to cover the tops of the cupcakes.  Then I added green coloring to the rest of the frosting, and began piping a ring of leaves on the perimeter of the cupcakes using leaf tip.  Then inside the first row of leaves, I piped a second row, and a third row, to finish forming the Christmas wreath.

Martha's book suggested using red sugar pearls as the berries on the wreath, but since I didn't have any of those, I used these cute holly and berry sprinkles that I found at Target.

I loved the end result.  And it had just the right amount of minty-ness and chocolate!  Next year I plan on using the same leaf technique to make Christmas tree cupcakes!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!