Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla/Cinnamon Buttercream

Morning!

Here's part II of the Fiesta Shower I shared with you on Monday.

 

I was responsible for dessert for my friend's Fall Fiesta Shower.  I wanted to make something that stuck with the fiesta theme, so I created Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with a Vanilla & Cinnamon Buttercream.

 

 

 

 

I cheated and used a box of Devil's Food cake mix.  Make the mix according to the box directions.  To add some kick I added cayenne pepper (a little less than 1/2 tsp) and 2 tsps. of cinnamon.  Mix these spices into the cake mix.

 

Spoon in your cake mix into the muffin tin.  I wanted bite size desserts so I used a mini muffin tin, this recipe made over 60 cupcakes.  Bake the cupcakes per the instructions on the back of the box.

 



Once cooked, allow your cupcakes to completely cool.  I cooled mine over night.  To keep them from drying out, I wrapped the pan in saran wrap.



 

For the buttercream, you'll need:

1/2 cup (or 1 stick) or butter

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix the butter until it's smoothe, about 3 minutes. Add in the vanilla, cinnamon, powdered sugar and milk. You want your frosting to be the consistency of creamy peanut butter. To get this consistency you may or may not need to add all the milk. Slowly add the milk until you get the right consistency.

Note: if the frosting gets too liquidy, add more powdered sugar.

 

 Pipe the frosting onto your cupcakes. I used a large zip-loc bag and cut off the tip to do this. If you're baking alone, stuff the zip-loc bag in a large cup and wrap the "zip-loc" part around the top of the cup, scope in the frosting.

 



 

And there you go - delicious Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcakes with Vanilla / Cinnamon Buttercream!

 

For dessert we had my cupcakes, plus cinnamon churros.  To dress up the desserts, I added party flags.  I created a design in PicMonkey, printed them on Avery labels, and stuck them on tooth picks.   I love the finished product!

 

What is your favorite cupcake & frosting flavor?

 

~Elizabeth