#24 - Chocolate Chili Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream
One Saturday after a long run I was feeling 'spicy' and I was craving chocolate so I decided to make cupcakes. The result was a Serrano pepper chocolate cupcake. I simply took the usual chocolate cupcake recipe that I've been using all year and blended in two whole Serrano peppers. I could taste it in the batter but when they baked a bit of the kick went out of them. That said, I still noticed a slight kick after consumption so you knew SOMETHING was there. I think next time I'd spice it up even more. The frosting was a simple chocolate buttercream that was a bit on the mousse-y side.
#25 - Yam and Pecan Cupcakes with Option A) Gorgonzola Cream Cheese Frosting or Option B) Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting
Okay, I know Option A doesn't sound appealing to most people but I'm not like most people. This recipe was for Thanksgiving and for some reason I associated Thanksgiving with crackers and cheese (stinky cheese) and then all the other stuff (turkey, yams, mashed potatoes, etc...). The yam and pecan part was a no-brainer but I wanted to mix it up a bit with the frosting. Surprisingly blue cheese or Gorgonzola frosting is no where to be found on the interwebs. So I improvised. I basically made cream cheese frosting with Gorgonzola bits blended in. The result - fantastic! You could taste it but it wasn't overpowering AND I think it complemented the yams and pecans very nicely.
For those that weren't so daring I made a few with bourbon cream cheese frosting. I of course added more bourbon than was necessary just so you could get the boozy feel of the cupcake. I have a feeling that those were the preferred flavor for the big day but I liked them both equally. And, for your reference here is the recipe I used for the cupcakes.
Last thing to make note of - I found out THE BEST way to pipe frosting without dirtying your pastry bag. So easy! Basically you dump the frosting on a sheet of plastic wrap, roll it up, twist the ends, thread into piping bag, cut one end and done-zo. Here's the video. No more mess to deal with - especially after I blew a hole in one of my pastry bags. Problem solved.
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