So let's face it, with most cupcakes, the "cake" portion is merely a delivery method for the frosting. Often dry or overly cake-y, they usually don't inspire you to chew the frilly paper cup after the cupcake has been consumed, yearning for more. This cupcake might change all that. Here I used a devil's food cake, which is so moist, dense, and chocolatey delicious it is a deserving throne for the heavenly frosting that crowns this dessert.
In addition to the standard recipe, I added 2 wedges of Ibarra Mexican Chocolate. Typically used to make Atole, Champurrado, or Mexican Hot Chocolate, this chocolate comes in disks and is not for the lazy or the feint of heart. It required the use of a hammer to break off 2 wedges and a heavy duty chocolate grater to scrape the wedges into a fine powder. It is made from sugar, cacao nibs, and cinnamon "flavor", but what it adds is a complexity and fullness to the cocoa powder that would be otherwise lacking.
In this recipe however, the frosting is still the main event. I experimented with several recipes...including the buttercream frosting recipe from the February issue of Martha Stewart Living that makes a ridiculous 4 cups of frosting (great if you are making cupcakes for a 3rd grade class, excessive when making 14 cupcakes for a small birthday gathering). What I settled upon was the recipe on the back of the box of C&H powdered sugar, with a few very important tweaks. Using the recipe as written on the box produced a cloyingly sweet frosting that instantly made my teeth ache upon tasting it. The addition however of sea salt and cloves balances the sweetness and adds an unexpected spiciness that is niceiness.
This recipe yields 14 "texas sized" cupcakes (as stated on the package of muffin cups) and would likely yield 16-18 normal cupcakes, or better yet, 30 mini cupcakes.
