500 cupcakes - chocolate & chili cupcakes

Who DOESN'T love the movie Chocolat...

(um, and who DOESN'T love Johnny Depp!) ;-)

This latest recipe from the 500 Cupcakes book calls for some teaspoons of Chipotle Chili Powder, which made me think of the movie and so I've been dying to try these...

Needless to say... they came out AWESOME!

So, I've been trying to apply some of the things that I've been learning as I go... and I think it's really helping! (I think it's contributed to the ultra-yumminess of these latest cakes).

One of the new things I tried:

Swans Down Cake Flour

This came per the recommendation from one of hubby's co-workers (who is a master baker).

Also, after reading up on Joy of Baking, it seems All Purpose or Cake Flour is the way to go (not Self-Rising). Good to know! :)

Frosting ingredients... recipe calls for "Tia Maria"... I had no idea what that was! After researching it, it seems Kahlua would also do the trick. ;-)

Yummy!

So other things I did:

Again, thanks to Joy of Baking, I spooned my cake flour into the measuring cup (as opposed to using measuring cup to scoop flour out of the box/bag...which is what I used to do!).

Since flour's already packed, no need to pack it again! Hence, spooning!

(Those 'lumps' are whole chocolate chips! YAY!)


And thanks to What's Cooking America, I used my unsweetened cocoa powder (since I can't find Dutch-Process ANYWHERE) and added a lil baking soda, per substitution chart!

While the guys were baking, I made the frosting.

The recipe called for putting all ingredients (just butter, Tia Maria (Kahlua), cocoa powder & confectioner's sugar) in food processor and processing...

It came out soooooooooo nice and thick and creamy and yummy!

Soooooo good (and it doesn't hurt that I added extra Kahlua) ;-)

Mmmm... I'd eat that just like that...

Ding! Outta the oven.

I ended up taking 'em out a couple of minutes early cause the toothpick test came out good.

Cute...

Oh geez... This is making me hungry for one...

These came out sooooooooo good and I'd absolutely make them again!

The Chipotle Chili Powder adds an interesting kick, which I really like!

The other yummy fabulousness is that the batter calls for adding whole chocolate chips before baking. Extra Yum!

These pics are courtesy of hubby who commandeered the camera...