November
29, 2008
Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
Um, folks, we have another winner. This one was so good it has bumped another cupcake out of the running altogether. Bye bye regular old chocolate, hello hot chocolate! In Taylor’s words, this is a much more sophisticated chocolate. In Robin’s words, mmmmm. The texture was fascinating. So moist, and yet fluffy and slightly grainy (in a good way). Something about the combination of ingredients that go into the batter, it comes out of the oven full of flavors you can’t quite identify. Deep, rich flavors. While we didn’t add enough cayenne to make it spicy, the pinch we did add brings a depth to the cake like adding salt might, but much more pronounced. It’s like the cayenne becomes a super salt – that brings out the fine details of all the other ingredients within the cake.
In other words, it’s darn good.
We topped these off with a simple cream cheese buttercream, flavored with almond and a touch of vanilla. I jokingly suggested we add some color to the snow white frosting, and immediately both Taylor and Robin shouted “Purple!”. Right, ok, purple it is. And how purple they are. Topped with some pearlescent jimmies, they make for a very glamorous cupcake.
Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes. Recipe adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.
Ingredients
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons corn flour or very fine cornmeal
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extractFor Frosting:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
3-3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk or soymilkDirections
Preheat oven to 350?F and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.Whisk together coconut milk and flaxseed and allow to sit for 10 minutes, then whisk in sugar, oil, vanilla, and almond extract.
In another bowl, sift together flour, corn flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne. Gently mix in wet ingredients.
Fill cupcake liners with 1/4 cup of batter (approximately 2/3 full). Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
For frosting, cream together butter and creamcheese. Slowly add most of the confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until mixture is smooth and fluffy. Add soymilk, extracts, and coloring (if desired), and mix until combined. Add remaining powdered sugar, adding more if necessary to achieve proper consistency. Mix at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes.
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I love Mexican hot chocolate.
You’re assured that whatever it touches turns to gold.
Beautiful icing too.
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Awesome combination! I love the experimental cupcake recipes you’ve been posting. I have lost my motivation to bake cupcakes. I thought they were kind of dull. But you have changed my opinion. Hopefully I get to make these bad boys soon :)
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the purple frosting was probably our best idea all week. i kinda wish i had eaten one more before i left… it would hit the spot right now. miss you guys already!!!
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Yum, I’d love to give those a try. I am not a fan of chocolate cupcakes or cake but these just might win me over to the dark side! ha-ha!
~ingrid
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Cupcakes are my favorite, especially chocolate! This looks adventurous and fun!
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Everything about those cupcakes is beautiful! Thanks for the recipe.
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Does your greatness ever cease!!! I love the icing color. I tried making some homemade hot chocolate over the holidays and I bombed it big time. Would love to hear if you have one that is a winner :)
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Mexican recipes are always my favorite. I keep trying these recipe, but never tried out cupcakes.
I liked this recipe very much.
Thanks.
Julia
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Looks great!! Your photos are beautiful. A lady who was in the Norfolk Craft Mafia has an online store with lots of items perfect for cupcake decorating- http://www.bakeitpretty.com/ just wanted to pass it on.
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I love that bright purple color! Beautiful cupcakes with a great flavor idea.
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Hi Rockaroo -
We did make a ‘grown-up’ hot chocolate last year, that was basically a drinkable chocolate bar:
http://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2008/01/grown-up-hot-chocolate-with-amaretto.html
Very rich. I’ve found the best cocoa is just a simple mix of milk (or soymilk), cocoa powder, sugar, and vanilla. I made a soy version recently, since I can’t have pretty much all of the hot chocolate mixes, and it was quite good. Maybe I’ll make it again and write down the recipe. :)
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that is some of the prettiest frosting i have ever seen! beautiful cupcakes-and they sound delicious :)
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Stunning cupcakes! Two days ago I sipped my first Mexican Hot Chocolate—man, I’ve been missing out…Very psyched about this recipe.
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I love the first picture. So beautiful with that lilac icing.
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I think I love you… :)
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I love love love this recipe! I was so excited the first time I found this because my dad and his girlfriend both love chocolate with chili powder, so I knew I had to make these for them. Now my dad asks me to make these every time I visit!
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I made these and the strawberry lemonade cupcakes for my neice’s 5th birthday today, they were amazing and the recipe worked out perfectly but I couldn’t get either icing to be so thick and fluffy and to pipe like these, so in the end I just spread it, what kind of mixer are you using?
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Wow, that looks absolutely delicious! You did a great job presenting the pictures too, I will definitely have to try this recipe when I have some time this weekend :)
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This recipe is amazing! Instead of mixing the blackberry puree into the frosting, I filled the cupcakes with homemade blackberry jam. Who woulda thought almond, vanilla, and blackberry would be such a winning combination!
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I love Mexican Hot Chocolate! This sounds so interesting and creative!
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these are beautiful cupcakes! they sound so delicious im going to make some for myself tomorrow!! gotta runto the store first :P that frosting is gorgeous I have never thought of making that color in all my cupcake baking years!! and I love the pearl sprinkles. thank you for the recipe
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I really want to try this recipe.
It does not say how much creamcheese to put in the icing!?