Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Frosting

I had a business dinner to attend Wednesday evening so I knew I would miss the first half of our weekly dinner gathering. Not being in possession of the salad bowl and knowing better than to interfere with the wine-drinking ritual, I asked if I could bring dessert.

Dessert it was.


I decided to make Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Frosting. I had never made these before but got the idea to blend non-traditional ingredients from watching Cupcake Wars. I started with an organic chocolate cake mix and doctored it up. It called for 1 1/3 cup if milk and I infused the milk with strongly brewed Yogi Aztec Sweet Chili tea..... I love Yogi teas because they are good and each tea bag extends an inspirational message…the message from the tea bag I used “Together we can do what we can never do alone.” See, pure inspiration! I also added just a pinch of red pepper powder. I filled my pretty red and white Martha Stewart cupcake holders using my trusty ice cream scoop (best kitchen hint ever shared) and baked as directed.

While the cupcakes were baking, I made the frosting. I trolled the intranet (actually my intern trolled for me) for a coffee frosting recipe and decided to use a simple one from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons strong brewed coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Beat together confectioners' sugar, butter or margarine, coffee, and vanilla until smooth. Add more liquid or confectioners' sugar as needed.

I used strongly brewed instant espresso instead of regular coffee. I sprinkled each cupcake with a little Equal Exchange Spicy Chili Cinnamon Cocoa mix.

These cupcakes were both pretty and delicious....not too sweet with a subtle spiciness.