Chili Chocolate Cupcakes are an earthy, slightly sweet marriage of dark chocolate with garden hot chili peppers and a kiss of coffee for a ‘mature’ cupcake!
Chili and Chocolate
Chili and chocolate, married together, make for the best cupcake recipe for adults! Why?
It’s deliciously spicy and ‘hot‘ and is kissed with coffee too!
When I have a sweet tooth and feel like indulging in something really naughty, it’s going to be Chocolate.
No, not just any ole chocolate, it must be laced with adult flavors, like something spicy hot, and maybe a tease of coffee.
And so, I created these naughty little sweet treats that are nothing short of a ‘Cakegasm’!
Who Likes Chocolate?
Surely, everyone will say they like chocolate, but there is chocolate and then there is chocolate.
Moist dark chocolate, when not overly sweet, or covered up with icing, is going to be the truest chocolate flavor we can get in a chocolate dessert.
Often times when folks look for a chocolate treat, we revert back to chocolates we may have had as a kid.
Real Chocolate
Now, unless you are a 12-year old reading this, most of our childhood experiences with chocolate have not been with real chocolate. At least, not real chocolate that hasn’t been overly processed.
If you are interested in cooking with real chocolate, your best bet is to use a raw cacao powder. The flavor is intense, nothing else added and it works great for both sweet or savory dishes.
Savory Chocolate
What are you talking about Robin, savory chocolate? Absolutely!
You see, real chocolate, raw cacao has a bitter, somewhat hot flavor, much like cinnamon does. That natural earthy, raw, somewhat hot flavor makes chocolate the perfect ingredient for both sweet or savory dishes.
When you’ve wrapped your taste buds around this umami combination, you will definitely want to try making your own Chocolate Chili Pasta!
Chocolate Beans
These, not so attractive beans plucked and roasted from the seed of the cocoa tree, is a bit peppery on its own, but give it a kiss of something sweet and already cocoa is transformed.
Let it remain without sugar, and you have the perfect dark rich enhancement to meats and savory sauces.
Chocolate For The Health Of It
Healthy? Ohhhh yes! Dark chocolate is loaded with minerals and anti-oxidants and even a healthy amount of soluble fiber.
Add to that lineup, iron; which could be why with each of my pregnancies or even during a woman’s cycle, we crave chocolate.
Our little body is crying out for more iron, “Give me chocolate, give me chocolate,” it’s saying!
Coffee Beans
Yet another seed plucked and roasted from a tree, the coffee bean, when freshly ground and brewed has a naturally occurring oil from the coffee bean.
While there are a number of skin benefits to using coffee oil externally because of its high amounts of vitamin E and other essential nutrients, I use it in chocolate desserts to make them moist.
When coffee is used in this recipe it adds another layer of depth to the dark, earthy flavor of the chocolate, which you will find also in my Coffee Chocolate Cookies!
The Heat Of A Chili
Why on earth would you put ‘bite-your-tongue’ hot chili peppers in a luscious chocolate cake? Oh, just try it!
It does something magical to bring out more of the cocoa bean flavor, deepen the character of the chocolate flavor and send a hot little tingle through your mouth, sure to wake it up!.
If using fresh chopped chili pepper, just add a little sliver to the cup of hot coffee, let it steep and then strain the pepper out, leaving its heat in.
You can also just add a pinch of Cayenne pepper to the dry ingredients if you don’t have a chili pepper.
Savory Chocolate And Chili Peppers
When using chocolate in a savory dish or sauce, a higher SHU (Scoville Heat Unit), can be used simply because flavors in a savory dish can stand up to the heat.
For a sweet heat, which is a more delicate flavor, it is best to stay with a chili pepper a little lower on the heat level, but still use a pepper that has a complimenting flavor; Serrano or Cayenne (8,000 to 50,000 SHU).
The flavor of a jalapeño or poblano have very definite flavors of their own and I have not preferred them in sweet hot dishes. Love to know if you have found a hot chili pepper you like in a dessert!
Cupcakes and Cakes
Why make a big ole cake when you can make lots of little cakes! Cupcakes are an easy to-go treat or gift to give, and now, a huge tree of cupcakes have become the rage, replacing wedding cakes!
I remember, growing up, how every wedding (because I have family in the wedding event business), would have a wedding cake.
Then, something changed in early 2000, and cupcakes began to replace wedding cakes. A beautiful tall mound of cupcakes, or small, stacked in a variety of decorations, just looked magical!
Fast forward to these three years post-Covid and it has become the wise way to serve a celebration cake at a wedding.
Cupcakes vs Muffins
If truth be told about my passion for muffins and why I created My Muffin Madness cookbook, with 52 different sweet or savory muffins, it was inspired by the celebratory wedding cupcakes.
I created each recipe with a view in mind to decorate each muffin with pertinent ingredients on top. Take, for instance, Cheeseburger Muffin has cheese, tomates and tiny burgers on displayed on top.
Or, for a fancy sweet muffin, such as Eggnog Muffin, it is adorned with meringues and laced with rum, but never icing, which is what makes it different from a cupcake.
So, naturally, when I want to decorate a cupcake, which always has an icing, whereas muffins do not, I want it to look extra special too.
And trust me, I am not a cake decorator, by any means, so I keep is simple, delicious and still pretty.
Icing On Cupcakes
I prefer these chili chocolate cupcakes without anything on top, but if you must have something on top, to call it a cupcake, keep it simple.
Perhaps whip a little cream, toss in some booze and give a dollop of this to the cupcake.
You could also add a little cacao and confectionery sugar with a pinch of cayenne pepper to butter or whipped cream, and pipe that on as an icing.
My take on icing for these chocolate cupcakes is to let the cake be the star and not the icing.
But, let’s get to the point! Don’t you get annoyed when you look for the perfect recipe, only to find lots of blah, blah, blah stories you don’t really care about. JUST GIVE ME THE RECIPE!
Okay, OK, the best recipe for Chili Chocolate Cupcakes is about to be on your evening plate!
Ingredients Needed
- Chilies
- Sugar
- Water
- Eggs
- Milk
- Oil – sunflower or your choice
- Coffee
- Cacao
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Allspice
- Butter
- Confection sugar
- Cream
Equipment Needed
- Cupcake Tin
- Non-stick spray
- Sauce pan
- Strainer or slotted spoon
- Mixing bowl
- Whisk or hand held mixer
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Spoon or ice cream scoop – to fill the pans
- Coffee maker
- Oven
Chili Chocolate Cupcakes
12
servingsChili Chocolate Cupcakes are an earthy, slightly sweet marriage of dark chocolate with garden hot chili peppers and a kiss of coffee for a ‘mature’ cupcake!
Ingredients
Eggs – 2
Sugar – 1 cup
Cream/Milk Mix – 1 cup
Oil – 1/2 cup (your choice)
Hot Coffee – 1 cup
Flour – 1 3/4 cups
Cacao – 3/4 cup
Baking powder – 1 1/2 teaspoons
Baking soda – 1 1/2 teaspoons
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Fresh Tabasco, Serrano or Cayenne Pepper – 1 inch slice (optional)
Cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
Whipping Cream – 3/4 cup
Confection sugar – 1 tablespoon, sifted
Flavored liqueur of your choice, I used Chambord Raspberry liqueur for the color – 1 tablespoon
Directions
- Heat oven to 350. Prepare pan/tins with butter and a dust of flour
- In a cup of hot coffee, set the fresh pepper slice to steep for 15 minutes. Remove the pepper when ready to use the coffee and heat the coffee in the microwave for just 20 seconds.
- Whip eggs and sugar together about 5 minutes, until light in color. Slowly pour in the cream/milk mixture, and oil.
- In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients, then gently whisk into the wet ingredients. Last, slowly pour in the hot coffee and mix well. Pour 3/4 full into prepared pan/tins. Bake until tester comes out clean. Cool completely.
- Whip the cream until it begins to thicken. Slowly add sugar and liqueur. Place a dollop on each serving of cake, or drizzle chocolate topping (above) and then add that luscious dollop of raspberry cream!
Recipe Video
Notes
- When choosing heat to add to these chocolate cupcakes, you want flavor as much as you want heat. Habenero is way too hot for the delicate flavors in this cupcake, while jalapeño lacks the flavor to better enhance the chocolate. For this reason, I choose to use fresh tabasco, serrano or cayenne peppers in sweets with heat. The flavor is a lovely compliment to the sweet chocolate. A pinch of powdered chili pepper can be substituted.
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.
