Iron Cupcake: Earth WINE

Red wine...my personal favorite. I decided to go with a Sangria flavor this month to incorporate my favorite booze: WINE!

This cupcake is sooo sweet you can barely taste the kick of Cointreau in the Orange frosting, and Red Wine in the cake batter. Now onto the recipe:

Bake at 350 degress for 12 minutes for Mini Cupcakes.

SANGRIA CAKE:

2 1/2 Cups Flour
3 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1 1/2 Cups Sugar
3 Eggs
2 Tablespoons Grenadine
1 Teaspoon Lemon Zest
1 Teaspoon Orange Zest
Juice from 1 Fresh Squeezed Lemon
1/2 Mayo

1/2 Cup Orange Juice
1/2 Cup Dry Red Wine

*Purple food coloring optional*

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Mix wet ingredients well (minus the OJ and Win). Slowly add the dry mix into the batter, alternatively with the OJ/Wine Mix.

ORANGE FROSTING:

1/2 Cup Butter
Juice from 1 Fresh Squeezed Orange (Blood orange or Cara Cara recommended)
Zest from 1 Orange
1-2 oz. of Cointreau to taste
4-5 Cups Powdered Sugar
Optional* Orange Food Coloring

Mix Above Ingredients until well combined.

LIME FILLING:
Zest of 1 Lemon
Juice of 1 Fresh Lemon
1 1/2 Cup Whipped Cream (add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar if you make it fresh)
1 1/2 Cup Vanilla Bean Custard or Vanilla Pudding
*Green Food coloring optional*

Mix Well!



Good Toppers for these cupcakes are: Candied Orange Peel, or fresh oranges if you are serving fresh!



Our January ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

DOGBONE ART - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=22042
as well as a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281.
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!
As an added bonus for January, our friend at SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY will be tossing in another treat as well, http://www.acupcakery.com/index.html.

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; the CUPCAKE COURIER http://www.cupcakecourier.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com. NEW, BEGINNING IN JANUARY; our new friends at UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/ will be providing our winner with one of their cute cupcake attitue t's! Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com .

Iron Cupcake: Earth CHILI PEPPER

Introducing my Iron Cupcake Challenger: Chocolate Chili Pepper Cupcake

Let this cupcake with a kick enlighten your senses. Mild enough for any taste bud, spicy enough for the pepper lover to desire. Begin with the dark chocolate topping. Taste the rich dark chocolate as it melts in your mouth. First comes dark bittersweet chocolate, second comes chili, just enough to get excitement going. But wait...we haven't gotten to the cake yet. On the first bite, notice the chili powder sprinkled on top of the fudge frosting, very sweet, very chocolate, very spicy. Now onto the filling...what a surprise: chili pepper jelly sweet and luscious, followed by sweetened cream cheese to help even out all the bursts of flavor. At this point a cake high has been achieved. Does it have the invigorating kick you crave? Is it sweet? Is it moist? Is it mouth-watering? Yes...all of the above. Now the only question is: Can you handle the heat?

The Iron Cupcake winner is winning all sorts of amazing prizes! Thank you fellow Iron Cupcake supporters! Cakespy, Jessie Steele Aprons, The Cupcake Courier, Taste of Home, Fiesta Products and Hello, Cupcake to name a few!


Iron Cupcake: Earth VOTING:


RECIPE: 20-21 Minutes @ 350 Degrees, Makes Approximately 15 Cupcakes.

CAKE:
1 Egg
1 Cup Sugar
3/8 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Cup Mayonnaise
1 Cup Water

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 Tablespoon Vinegar
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

Mix wet ingredients well (at least 2-3 minutes). Mix baking soda and vinegar together in separate bowl and pour into wet mixture after reaction seizes. Mix until just combined. Mix/Sift dry ingredients and slowly add them to wet mixture. Once all ingredients combine, mix thoroughly for another 1-2 minutes. Fill cupcake liners as full as you can without dripping over. This will make for a large luscious cupcake.

FILLING 1 (CREAM CHEESE):
1 8 oz. package of Cream Cheese
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar

Mix well. Place into piping bag to prepare to fill cupcake.

FILLING 2 (PEPPER JELLY):

5 Finely Chopped Chili Peppers (include seeds to personal spice intensity desired)
10 Finely Chopped Jalapeno Peppers (include seeds to personal spice intensity desired)
1-2 Finely chopped Red Bell Peppers (remove all seeds)
1/2 Cup Light Corn Syrup
3 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

If you want this jelly to be sweet, you can get away with an entire chili pepper's worth of seeds, the sugar will overpower the spice. If you want to taste the spice, you need to add at least 2 chili pepper's worth of seeds. I used 1 chili pepper's worth of seeds and I could not taste the kick in the jelly. Boil all ingredients above for approximately 30 minutes, stirring occasionaly. Let cool at room temperature. Drain any excess liquid. Jelly should be sticky and gooey. Do a taste test for spice. Too hot? Add some sugar or corn syrup. Place into piping bag to prepare to fill cupcake.

FROSTING and CHOCOLATE TOPPING:
8 oz. Bakers Unsweetened Chocolate Squares/Bars
12 oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 Tablespoon Butter or Vegetable Oil
4 Tablespoons Chili Powder

Place ingredients on double boiler on low heat. Let melt for about 10 minutes before mixing/stirring with rubber spatula. Mix until smooth. Place half of the chocolate on a sheet of wax paper. Smooth out into large piece of chocolate using rubber spatula, thin enough to break apart easily later after cooled. Place in refridgerator to speed up hardening.

Use the remaining half of the chocolate mixture for the frosting:

Remaining melted chocolate mixture
1/2 Cup Butter
4-5 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

Mix ingredients until smooth. Place into piping bag to frosting cupcake.

ASSEMBLY: After the cupcakes have cooled enough to handle, use a small knife to cut small slits into cupcake to help pipe the filling (cut 2 slits in each cupcake...like an X shape about 1.5 inches deep). Place the cream cheese piping bag directly into the cupcake about 1 inch deep, squeeze enough to fill the cupcake about 1-2 teaspoons. Use the same process to fill in the pepper jelly on top of the cream cheese filling. If you jelly is coming out the top, that's ok!

Now frost your cupcake in your favorite frosting fashion (we all have our own way). Sprinkle the frosting immediately with Chili Powder.

Once your remaining refridgerated chocolate on wax paper for the topping is cold enough to handle, break small pieces off and stab right into the top of the cupcake. I recommend 2-3 pieces of chocolate per cupcake.

EAT, SMILE, BE HAPPY.