The theme ingredient for this month’s Cupcake Hero challenge was cocoa powder. I almost passed this month because I seriously hate cocoa powder. Hate isn’t a strong enough word, I think. Loathe is more like it. When I worked in the cafe, I would have to use cocoa powder in large quantities and it was never fun. When I added cocoa powder to my mixer and turned it on, a cloud of powder would blow up and for the rest of the day I would be sneezing cocoa powder…literally. It just isn’t my favorite baking ingredient. And don’t get me started on people using it as a garnish and dusting it all over plates. I could rant all day.

Anyway, a few days ago Clara over at I Heart Cuppycakes asked “What goes good with chocolate?” It might be easier to ask what doesn’t go well with chocolate? But this question got me thinking about unusual flavor combinations with chocolate. There has always been a combination that I’ve been dying to try, but never had the chance to make: chocolate and chile (no, not chili, I’m talking chile as in “pepper”).

I won’t bore any of you with the history of combining chocolate and chiles, so I will encourage you to head over to FieryFoods.com and read an excellent article about it all.

This recipe uses New Mexico red chiles. It’s a mellow, sweet chile, so it goes very well with chocolate. I’ll have more information after the recipe on how I used this and what to do if you can’t find it in powder form.

So with that, here’s the recipe for Chocolate-Chile Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Frosting. This recipe will make about 24 regular-sized cupcakes.

For the cupcakes, you will need:

1 cup PLUS 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 cup PLUS 2 Tbsp. cake flour (not self-rising)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsweetened, non-alkalized cocoa powder
2 cups water
2 Tbsp. New Mexico medium ground red chile
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs, room temperature

Then:

Preheat your oven to 350° and place cupcake liners into cupcake pans.

Using a mixer with a wire whip attachment, combine the flours, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa and beat on low speed until well mixed.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup of the water with the chile powder over medium heat until simmering. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Add the softened butter to the dry mixture and beat thoroughly on medium-low speed. The mixture should be grainy. Raise the speed to medium and gradually add the remaining cup of water and the buttermilk. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Slowly add the hot water/chile mixture and continue to beat just until well combined. Don’t overbeat!

Fill cupcake molds about 3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then remove cupcakes and let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, you will need:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened, non-alkalized cocoa powder
1/4 cup PLUS 2 Tbsp. buttermilk
1 1/2 pounds powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Next:

Combine the butter and cocoa in a large saucepan and melt over medium heat. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in buttermilk.

Using an electric mixer (you can either use a hand mixer or transfer to a stand mixing bowl), add the powdered sugar a little at a time, stirring well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

If the frosting is too stiff for your liking (it was for me), add more buttermilk until it is the consistency you want. I added about 1/3 cup more buttermilk, which resulted in a nice, glossy, fudgy frosting.

The results:

The cake was absolutely fantastic! This is a rich, moist cake, so make sure you have a glass of milk nearby. The chile flavor is subtle and adds a hint of spiciness, but doesn’t take away from the sweetness of the chocolate. This cupcake was a huge success!

A note on finding and using New Mexico red chiles:

My supermarket did not carry the New Mexico red chiles already in powdered form. I didn’t trust myself toying around with a different type of chile powder, so I headed on over to the ethnic food section and found a huge bag of dried New Mexico red chile pods. I never used these before, but decided to try it out.

When I got home, I busted out my coffee grinder. I removed the stems from the pods and broke the chiles into smaller pieces, then ground them until it was a medium grind (sort of the consistency of ground coffee). This worked perfectly and was much cheaper than buying a pre-ground spice (the huge bag cost about $1.99).