There are several things that I do when I get stressed out, veg in front of my laptop, have a drink or cook/bake. A recipe that lets me beat the crap out of a piece of meat (tonkatsu) usually does the trick. This time round, I corralled the violent instinct and decided to bake cupcakes instead. Besides, my whole team has been equally stressed out at work and I figured some treats were needed. I would usually go with chocolate because, well, chocolate just makes everything better.

But, I came to a realisation when I got to know my colleague, that not everyone likes chocolate, so I thought about the strawberries that I had at home and decided to pair it with mint and voila! Strawberry Mint Cupcakes. I used the strawberry cupcake recipe from Kara’s Party Ideas, but omitted the jam and the pink food colouring. Not too sure if I messed up somewhere because my mixture curdled after I put in the egg whites and never quite came back together, but it was fine after adding the flour mixture. For my mint buttercream, I went to Allrecipes.com. While I don’t particularly like American buttercream because I simply find it too sweet, it is fuss-free and the mint cuts through the sweetness.

I then topped it off with Andes Mint Chocolates and a sprig of mint. Nothing too fancy, but I still think it’s pretty.

And while “Monday Bakes” sounds good, I don’t think I’ll be able to do this every Monday.