Sweet Me Up: Desserts by miVi

So Iron Cupcake: Earth is underway. The challenge? Chili peppers. My personal challenge? I very seldom cook with chili peppers let alone bake with them! Regardless, I love playing with flavour combinations and bombarding my co-workers for their opinion. Will bake for feedback and compliments.

**VOTING ENDS SEPTEMBER 4! VOTE NOW AT No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner!**

Before I get into the nitty-gritty and the seductive descriptions of what became my end product, let’s give it up for the prize donors:
Cakespy, Jessie Steele Aprons, The Cupcake Courier, Taste of Home, Fiesta Products and Hello, Cupcake.

Orange Chocolate Cupcake w/ Mango-Chili Frosting

This is a light and moist chocolate cupcake dancing in orange juice and tip-toeing in spices. I didn’t want to make this cake kick you in the mouth for the sake of kicking you in the mouth. The mango frosting is a marriage of citrus and fire providing some heat and cool down.

Orange Chocolate Cupcake w/ Mango-Chili Frosting (makes 24)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 ¾ cups flour
• ¾ cup cocoa
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp. baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup orange juice
• ¼ tsp. chili powder
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp. ground cloves
• Mango-Chili Frosting (recipe below)
• Orange slices (I used red naval oranges for the colour)
• Crushed red pepper flakes

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two muffin tins.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat on medium. Slowly stir in the orange juice until it’s fully absorbed. Add chili powder, ground cinnamon and ground cloves and stir into the mixture. Spoon the batter a little over half-way full into the cupcake wells and bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool completely.
3. Prepare the frosting (recipe below). Place the red pepper flakes into a saucer. Spread the frosting evenly over the top of the cooled cupcake and delicately roll the edge of the cupcake into the crushed flakes. Top the cupcake with an orange slice.

Mango-Chili Frosting

Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter; softened
• ½ cup mango purée (one ripe mango through a food processor does the trick)
• Zest and juice of one lime
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 4-5 cups of icing sugar (varied to desired spreading consistency)
• ½ tsp. chili pepper
• Drops of tabasco sauce

1. Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add mango, lime zest and juice and honey and beat well. Mix in icing sugar one cup at a time. Mix in chili pepper and tabasco sauce to your liking.

There’s a mini cake under that mini skirt!

This is actually a prototype for an engagement party I’m doing in October and so far… FAIL:
1. The top part made of fondant kept flopping over (solution: use chocolate?)
2. The skirt shape is a bit off (solution: will shave it a bit for an A-line skirt)
3. Turns out that Wilton’s ready to use black frosting tastes like licorice (solution: use dark chocolate instead?)
4. Not crazy about the dress design (solution: go with simple… and don’t think about creating designs at midnight)

I’m open to suggestions and criticism. Thanks!

When DID cupcakes jump the shark?…

Right about now.