I have always wanted to try a good Mexican hot chocolate cupcake, but i have always been nervous to try it. I wanted one with a perfect chocolate ratio, to sweet to spicy. Anytime you are working with spices you have to be careful, you don't want it to be too spicy to the point of being over powering, but you don't want to not taste the spice either.
I decided it would be best to use a box cake mix to start, just so I could figure out what would be a good sweet to spicy ratio. I used a Pillsbury dark chocolate cake mix as the base. We had a dried chili pepper left over from when we made enchiladas, so I ground that pepper up into a powder using our spice grinder. I cut the pepper up into small pieces and slowly ground it up, added more at a time.
Once the pepper was ground up as smooth as I could possibly get it, I added about 1/2 teaspoon to the cake batter to start, as well as a tablespoon of cinnamon. I tasted it, and added 1/2 more teaspoon of the pepper. Now it was a bit too much, so I added one more teaspoon of cinnamon, and tried the batter. Perfection. All together it was one dark chocolate cake mix with all ingredients as called for on the box and prepared. Then I had added 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and a teaspoon of ground chili pepper.
I baked the cupcakes off, cooled them completely and then iced them with a cinnamon cream cheese icing. The cinnamon cream cheese icing is simple. It is 1 stick of butter softened (1/2 cup), 1 eight ounce package of softened cream cheese, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, and 3 to 4 cups of powdered sugar all mixed together. The 3 to 4 cups of powdered sugar varies depending upon how thick or thin you like your icing.
You could add a little sprinkle of cayenne or chili powder to the icing for added heat, but i wasn't quite feeling that brave yet! These were perfectly sweet, chocolately, and cinnamony, with a hint of after spice. I would love to make these again, only completely homemade, know that i know a good ration of sweet to spicy.
I decided it would be best to use a box cake mix to start, just so I could figure out what would be a good sweet to spicy ratio. I used a Pillsbury dark chocolate cake mix as the base. We had a dried chili pepper left over from when we made enchiladas, so I ground that pepper up into a powder using our spice grinder. I cut the pepper up into small pieces and slowly ground it up, added more at a time.
Once the pepper was ground up as smooth as I could possibly get it, I added about 1/2 teaspoon to the cake batter to start, as well as a tablespoon of cinnamon. I tasted it, and added 1/2 more teaspoon of the pepper. Now it was a bit too much, so I added one more teaspoon of cinnamon, and tried the batter. Perfection. All together it was one dark chocolate cake mix with all ingredients as called for on the box and prepared. Then I had added 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and a teaspoon of ground chili pepper.
I baked the cupcakes off, cooled them completely and then iced them with a cinnamon cream cheese icing. The cinnamon cream cheese icing is simple. It is 1 stick of butter softened (1/2 cup), 1 eight ounce package of softened cream cheese, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, and 3 to 4 cups of powdered sugar all mixed together. The 3 to 4 cups of powdered sugar varies depending upon how thick or thin you like your icing.
You could add a little sprinkle of cayenne or chili powder to the icing for added heat, but i wasn't quite feeling that brave yet! These were perfectly sweet, chocolately, and cinnamony, with a hint of after spice. I would love to make these again, only completely homemade, know that i know a good ration of sweet to spicy.
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