Mexican chocolate cupcake with cayenne frosting AKA little devil cupcake

It feels like my last post was so long ago, but it's been only a little over a week.
 I was so busy running around decorating, inventing, baking for the Halloween Party at my house, which was a great hit among family and friend.I spend quite some time planing for it. We had great halloween food, spooky decor all around the house , and I was able to put together a horror movie trivia and dares for the losing team. What a great night!
One of the recipes that I did for the party was this mini  mexican chocolate cayenne cupcakes that was a big hit.
I decorated them adding red food coloring for the frosting and making horns a devilish tail with black fondant. I am going to share the recipe with you in this post,  and you can decorate just like I did or just to keep it simple depending that the occasion you are serving these cupcakes.

Mexican Chocolate and Cayenne Frosting Cupcake - AKA Little Devil Cupcake

I used mini muffin pan ,I think it's the best size for this little full of flavor treat.And this recipe makes about 36 mini cupcakes

Ingredients for the cake: 
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2  cup hot water
1/2 cup  Abuelita hot cocoa powder( it's a delicious mexican style hot cocoa) 
3/4 cup sugar 
1 large egg
1/4 cup of vegetable oil 
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
How to make it:
 Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Set aside.
 In another small bowl, whisk together hot water and cocoa powder. Set aside.In a stand mixer, cream together butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, vegetable oil and vanilla extract, mixing until combined. Then mix in flour mixture, alternating with water/cocoa mixture, mixing until there are no lumps.Spoon batter into prepared tin, filling 3/4 full. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Ingredients for the frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)softened (but not melted!) 
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoons cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3-4  tablespoons milk or heavy  cream 
Optional: for red color 1/2 teaspoon of red food coloring gel( you can find at Michaels)
Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add the powdered sugar, and the rest of the ingredients and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase the speed and mix until you have a smooth consistency
Frost your cupcakes using a pastry bag and tip and decorate as you like it and have fun with it. Foundant devil's horns and tails or shaved chocolate and they are ready to be served. You can make it for Halloween ,Cinco the Mayo, bachelorette party , birthdays... any occasion!
Enjoy!
Pri =)

get all the ingredients measured first 

Alternate flour mix 

and the water/cocoa

batter is done!

Fill them up 3/4 of the way

Decorate as you like it with food coloring and devil horns 

or simply with chocolate shavings

Halloween Craft Projects- Invitation

Yesterday I just had the chance to put up my Halloween Decoration outside.I love Halloween. And it totally makes it if you live in New England. 

 September, October and November are the months when New England really shines. Our historic region is filled with apple picking,pumpkin patches, haunted houses, costume contests, trick-or-treating, legendary ghost tours, corn mazes, fall festivals.Nothing compares to sipping a steaming mug of apple cider while soaking up New England's breathtaking foliage, feeling the spine tingling chills inside a haunted house, or cheering on the Salem's costumes annual parade.I just love  all of that! 

It has been a few years we have hosted Halloween's celebration at my house the kids love it, we have games, horror movies trivia, halloween inspired food, costume contest, even my dog participate in the contest.We have a blast every year! It's a opportunity to let your inner witch out, at least for a day! =D

So, in this post I want to share this fun unique invitation idea that is gonna make your guests to go Wow! or Eek!

Severed Finger Invitation

Materials:

• Severed Fingers Soap; I bought them on Etsy from Sweet Soap Treats and they look so realistic
• Jewelry Boxes, color orange or black size 3x2x1 inches;you can get it at Michaels
• A bag of spanish moss; also from Michaels 
• Black Ribbon
• Craft Paper (left over from wedding craft projects)
• Halloween washi tapes
• Scissors
• Glue
• Evelopes #10 open end, you can find those at Michaels or Paper Source
• Stamp and stamp ink to decorate outside envelope 

How to make it!

Gather all the materials you'll need

tie all the fingers with a black ribbon

 Create your invitation on your computer  using a word document. I used  Landscape orientation layout and 4 columns. Print on craft paper and cut them

The  wording I used was  for the invitation

Don’t Forget!

Join us…

For our annual

Halloween Celebration

Friday, October 31 th

At  7:00 PM

Name:

At our Haunted House

Adress:

RSVP…if you dare

Phone:

You will end up with something like that.

Glue the top of your invitation on the center of the box's lid, don't put any glue on the edges of the box because that can prevent your box from closing all the way

Fold your invitation and glue the bottom part on the bottom part of the box like in the picture

Let the glue dry for a moment and add the moss to the bottom of your box

Place the finger in the box and now all you need is  to secure the box with a couple of small pieces of washi tape and a envelope to send it!

I like the envelopes with the open end for this

Decorate as you like it. Here I used a skull stamp. Now you just need to add your family and friends address and you're done.
I suggest going to the post office to mail them. The weight it's slightly different from box to box because of the different sizes of the fingers.
I hope you like the craft project post.For a few days I was debating if I should add craft to the blog  of keep more like a food blog... And you know what, if you go in my pantry you will find always food, something the garden and something crafty, and so there it is!

Have fun! And Happy Halloween!

Pri =)