These cupcakes are on fire!!

Hot Flash Cupcakes prove that menopause doesn’t have to be all bad!  Rich dark chocolate cupcakes combined with spicy buttercream frosting makes for a cupcake anyone would love!  Add some fire and you have the perfect gift for your hot flashing friends!

To prepare these fabulous Hot Flash Cupcakes, you need a dark chocolate cupcake recipe and luckily for you, I have one!  This recipe makes one dozen rich wonderful cupcakes that stand up well to the spicy buttercream that tops this fun and flashy dessert!

As always, a printable recipe can be found at the bottom of the page!

Dark Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

1 Stick of Butter at Room Temperature
3/4 Cup of Sugar
1 Large Egg at Room Temperature
1/2 Teaspoon of Vanilla
1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Buttermilk at Room Temperature
1/2 Cup Hot Water

Gather all the ingredients!

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium size bowl.  Beat butter in a large bowl at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add the sugar and beat well, add the egg and vanilla and beat well.

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and beat until just combined,  Add ½ of the buttermilk, beat until just combined.  Repeat with 1/3 of the dry ingredients and the rest of the buttermilk. Finish with the rest of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. At a slow speed, beat ½ cup hot water into the batter until just combined.

Prepare the cupcake tin with 12 paper cups and distribute the batter evenly.
Bake at 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack.

Don’t they look incredible – they taste yummy too!

Now for the frosting!

Spicy Buttercream Frosting Recipe!

2 Sticks of Butter at Room Temperature
3 Cups of Powdered Sugar
2 Teaspoons of Cream
1 Teaspoons of Vanilla
1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon of Chipotle Chili Powder
1/4 Teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Combine all spices into a small bowl.
For those of you who like it  extra hot, you can up the cayenne pepper to 1/2 teaspoon!
In a large bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy.  At low speed, add the powdered sugar and cream, varying the amounts until the desired consistency is achieved.

Sift the spices into the frosting, add the vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.

Time to turn that spicy frosting into Fire!

We all know that the hottest part of the flame is yellow, therefore you need to try to make your frosting yellow as it will be the center or hottest part of the flame!  The added spice mixture makes this challenging because it lends a brownish hue to the frosting.  Just go ahead and throw in some yellow food coloring and mix well.  No need for perfection.  You will be adding orange and red to the tips of the flames and it will all turn out fabulously.   Now it’s time to frost!  Fill your pastry bag and frost using whatever tip you want. Try to form peaks like flames of a fire!

To finish your flames, add red and orange food coloring to a small amount of frosting. Gently mix the color in the frosting while trying to keep the colors mostly separate!

Using a fork, pick up a small amount of the colored frosting and streak it through the piped frosting of each cupcake.  Try to make it look like fire by lifting and separating the buttercream into flames!

Hot Flash Cupcakes will bring a smile to all your Hot Flashing friends!

For all you Hunger Games fans, these would work well at your next Hunger Games party!

[gmc_recipe 2820]

[gmc_recipe 2835]