Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes With De La Rosa Candy Frosting

There's a market right by my house that sells four De la Rosa candies for a dollar. I used twelve for this recipe. If you've never had them, they're crumbly, dry, and taste like peanut butter. I don't remember exactly how or why this idea came to me, but I do remember it came to me on the walk home from that market, probably while eating one of these candies.

They're mostly powdered sugar. Buttercream frosting is mostly powdered sugar and butter. Makes sense, no?

This creamy frosting will have small bits of peanut in it, just like the candy does.

2 teaspoons of cayenne is just the right amount of heat for me. It announces its presence without overwhelming the chocolate cake. You can add as much or as little as you want, or eliminate it completely if you don't like spicy stuff.

For the cupcakes:

-1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
-1/2 cup cocoa powder
-1 cup boiling water
-2 tsp. baking powder
-2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
-2 tsp. cayenne pepper
-1 cup white sugar
-2 eggs
-2 tsp. vanilla extract
-pinch salt

For the frosting:

-1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
-12 De la Rosa candies, ground in a coffee grinder or food processor (comes out to about 2 cups)
-1 cup powdered confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Mix boiling water with cocoa powder, set aside to cool. Mmmmmm....it will smell like hot chocolate! If you're like me and bad at planning ahead, put it in the freezer to cool at supersonic speed! Just take it out and stir every 10 minutes or so.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cayenne pepper.

Use an electric mixer to beat the butter smooth and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Finally, add the vanilla extract and beat until smooth.

Add the flour mixture, and beat until just incorporated (don't over-beat). Stir in the cooled cocoa water. The freezer should bring it to room temp in about a half hour.

Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners, and fill each liner about 3/4 full. Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the frosting:

Just like with the cupcakes, beat the butter until smooth and creamy.

Add the De la Rosa candy powder in 3 portions, beating after each one. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost them and sprinkle with a bit of cocoa powder, if you want them to be even prettier.

Adapted from: http://www.joyofbaking.com/ChocolateCupcakes.html

********PLEASE, VOTE FOR ME IN THE CUPCAKE CONTEST!*********