Chocolate Chipotle Cupcakes

"What the hell were you thinking," you ask?
"Potluck at work," I say.

Theme: pepper.

Um, great. Just great.

That immediately implies to me something cooked, rather than baked. If I'm going to make something for people other than my immediate family, I roll with baking. I'm confident that I'm better at baking (what that says about this blog, my cooking, or even my baking skills, I don't know).

I hunted and scrounged for a dessert recipe utilizing peppers of any kind for a few days and got sick of the innumerable Dr. Pepper cake recipes. I Googled "pepper cupcake" which led me to Google "chipotle cupcake" which then led me to the Iron Cupcake Challenge, which finally brought me to a site beholding the most beautiful cupcake I'd ever seen: Bakerella's Fire and Ice Cupcake, winner of the Iron Cupcake Challenge. Seriously, its beautiful. Click the link and go there NOW.





I'm serious. Scroll back up and click the friggin' link.




Thankfully, Bakerella allowed for a shortcut to not-quite-as-glamorous (or time consuming) cakes. I followed that with some modifications. You'll do yourself a favor by reading my comments (or going straight to Bakerella). Trust me.


Don't mine look sorta cute? Let me tell you, they were a bigger bitch to make than I'd anticipated and don't look nearly as good as Bakerella's.

Here's what I did:

Chocolate Chipotle Cupcakes

1 c Hershey's unsweetened cocoa
3/4 c boiling water
2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3 tsp chipotle powder
2 c sugar
1 c butter, room temperature
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 c buttermilk
2 tbsp canned chipotles in adobe sauce, seeded and pureed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil water. Transfer 3/4 cup of boiling water to bowl. Stir in cocoa until dissolved to form chocolate mixture and set aside.

With a wire whisk (or fork), mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and chipotle powder in a separate bowl and set aside.


In a large mixing bowl, mix sugar, butter and eggs until light and fluffy.
 

Add buttermilk and vanilla and mix well.
 
I was a little concerned about how the batter looked after the buttermilk and vanilla were mixed in. Fortunately, it turned out to be normal. Well, no one got sick from them (that I know of).

Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients in three additions, alternating with chocolate mixture in two additions, ending with flour mixture. Beat until combined with each addition.
 

Add pureed chipotles and beat until combined.
 

Scoop batter into prepared cupcake trays.*


Bake for 30-35 minutes and cool completely.


*Bakerella said to prepare 36 cups and divide the batter evenly. I only have one muffin/cupcake pan that holds 12. Being "wise", I thought I'd buy souffle cups (originally intended to be smaller than standard 2.5" cupcakes so there'd be more to go around and everyone would get a less than 2.5" taste) and bake them all at once. After placing as many as possible on a baking sheet (20), I poured in batter to fill each about 2/3 full. That was WAY too much, causing batter to ooze out past the cooked tops and over the sides, requiring the long baking time. The last batch of 6 cupcakes were filled to 1/2, turned out beautifully with rounded tops after only 13 minutes!


Chipotle Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz Lindt pepper chocolate bar
8 oz. cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp chipotle chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon
4 c confectioner's sugar

Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 sec intervals, stirring in between until melted. Let cool.


Sift sugar and add chili powder and cinnamon. Set aside.


Cream butter and cream cheese and vanilla in a large mixing bowl on low until combined.


Add sugar in small batches until combined. Scrape down sides of bowl in between.


Set aside half of frosting for the Vanilla Chipotle Cream Cheese Buttercream.

Add melted chocolate to the other half and mix until combined for the Chocolate Chipotle Cream Cheese Buttercream.


Spread or pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes.


If you planned ahead and didn't do your recipe hunting, shopping, prep and baking in one night after work, this probably would go a lot smoother. For me it seemed like a nightmare, probably because I didn't even start prep until after 10 p.m. Still, it only took 2.5 hours from start to finish.

Flavor was great when the cakes were still warm (I tasted the parts that oozed out and baked on the sheet plus Rodney and I split one). When they were room temperature the next day at the potluck, they were just spicy. There was no chipotle flavor, which was disappointing. Some people liked them and others did not. I pretty much expected that since they are CHIPOTLE CUPCAKES.

Cost would be more outrageous if I followed Bakerella's recipe to a T. Since I opted for low-grade chocolates (Hershey's and Lindt rather than the fancier ones specified), the price was reasonable. I, in order to make this recipe, specifically went out to buy:

• Hershey's Cocoa: ~$4
• chipotle chili in adobo sauce: ~$1.50
• buttermilk: ~$3 for a half-gallon
• Lindt pepper chocolate bar: $2.50/3oz.
• cream cheese: ~$2/8 oz

Total added (unpredicted, had no plans to get this stuff for any reason) expense: $13.


Will I make these again? That's a damn good question. On one hand, they were pretty good, so yeah, I wouldn't mind tweaking the recipe/method a bit. On the other hand, what the hell for? How many chipotle cupcakes could I possibly give away? If there is another pepper-themed potluck at work, for sure.

I giggled when one of my co-workers commented that the next potluck should be themed garlic. Bring it on! Garlic cupcakes, here I come!

Pin It