Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes

By zircon50

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup coffee, room temperature
• CHOCOLATE CHILI BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temp
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Preparation

Step 1

CUPCAKES:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease the cups if you’re not using liners.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour and cocoa powder. Whisk in the sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, chili powder and cayenne pepper.

In another large bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, sour cream and coffee.

Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined, with no streaks of flour visible.

Divide evenly into prepared pans. I made 18 cupcakes from my batter. Don’t overfill the cups as I did (you could probably get two dozen good sized cupcakes from this recipe) – my cupcakes rose far too high over the tops of the liners. I’d recommend filling the cups only halfway so that you have a nice flat top to frost. I ended up cutting the domed tops off to make a flat surface.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a cake tester comes cleanly out of the center of a cupcake.

Cool cupcakes on a wire rack completely before frosting.

FROSTING:

I actually ran out of dark chocolate (my chocolate of choice when baking) so I had to use semi-sweet chocolate chips. Whatever chocolate you use, heat it in the microwave for 20 second intervals until it’s melted (be careful not to burn it). Set it aside to cool a bit.

Cream the butter in a large bowl using a hand mixer or in the bowl of your stand mixer on high speed until light and fluffy. Add the sugar 1/2 cup at a time and mix until blended. Add in the melted chocolate and spices. Beat on high until fully incorporated. Taste and adjust the spices and/or sugar if necessary.

This made a lot of frosting – more than enough to frost my 18 cupcakes. It’ll certainly be enough for 2 dozen cupcakes. I’d recommend placing the frosting in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to allow it to firm for easier frosting if you’re using a piping bag as I did.

For the marshmallows, you can use a blow torch to get some nice color on them or cheat like I did – place them under the broiler of your toaster oven for a couple of minutes. Make sure you don’t leave them in there too long or else you’ll end up with a puddle of marshmallow.