Sriracha Chocolate Cupcakes with Whipped Chocolate Ganache
15 Apr
Sriracha Chocolate Cupcakes with Whipped Chocolate Ganache
Yield: 24 cupcakes
Cupcake Ingredients
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, unsalted at room temperature
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
8 tsp sriracha (I used 4 tsp homemade, which has a super fresh pepper taste, but not as much heat as the commercial ‘Rooster Sauce’ and 4 tsp of the rooster)
Ganache Ingredients
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 stick of butter, unsalted at room temperature
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate
2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks toward the center. Melt the semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl covered with parchment paper (Check out this great video on melting chocolate at Food52!). Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa in a bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until fluffy. Add sugar and beat for an additional 3 minutes, then add the melted semi-sweet chocolate. Add egg and egg yolks one at a time, beating until well combined.
Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine. On low speed, add flour mixture and milk/vanilla mixture alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add the sriracha.
Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 2/3′s full and bake cupcakes for about 20 minutes.
For the ganache, put the chocolate into your mixing bowl (make sure it’s heat-safe) and heat the heavy cream until approximately 140 degrees Fahrenheit (do not boil). Add the cream to the chocolate and let it sit a few minutes before stirring. Add the butter, stirring to combine. Let cool for 15-20 minutes. Mix in the confectioners sugar and cool for an hour in the fridge or 15 minutes in the freezer. With the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, whip the cooled chocolate (it will lighten in color) for a few minutes. Pipe onto your cupcakes and top with any sprinkles or colored sugar (I used red sugar just for kicks).
(Ganache recipe adapted from Cupcake Bakeshop)
I pitched the idea of incorporating sriracha into a cupcake to Randy Clemens a while back as we brainstormed ideas. Randy had a great idea for a cupcake (which I’m hoping he’ll provide as a guest post next week!), whereas I went another way: chocolate and heat.
I wanted a dense, rich cake. Something that would stand up to the sriracha, while letting the heat shine through. My homemade sriracha couldn’t stand up to the task alone, so I brought out the bottle of Rooster. Obviously for anyone replicating this recipe, add the sriracha to taste. I was adding it at 1/2 teaspoon increments.
For baking, I put into place some tactics from Cupcake Bakeshop and was very happy with the results. I had no clue you shouldn’t disturb cupcakes until AFTER 15 minutes of baking! All this time I had been swapping positions in the oven between 8-10 minutes in the hopes of the cakes baking evenly. D’oh!
I’m very curious as to what the taste testers would think. I’m betting people either LOVE these cupcakes or despise them with every thread of their being.
Ow. Wow.
I was not expecting as intense of a heat as these cupcakes delivered. Hot sauce is a deep love of mine, and I add sriracha to most everything, including my coffee and allergy medication. Still, this heat caught me off-guard. Perhaps because it’s 8:30 a.m. or perhaps because I’m becoming old and weak, but either way, the back of my throat is still tingling from the pepper sauce.
None of that is a complaint. These cupcakes are awesome. The cake has dense, chewy quality with a sweet chocolate flavor, and the heat from the sriracha complements the cocoa perfectly. The chocolate ganache is easily my favorite icing so far. The only fault is that the cupcake was very crumbly, but that’s a minor issue. Overall this is one of my favorites so far.
OK, first of all … I LOVED this cupcake!
Wow … it really does bring the heat, perhaps not even enough for my tastes.
The cake is indeed dense, although a bit more crumbly than almost any up to now.
The ganache was quite good, and presented with panache.
Well done … this one I’d place third in my top 3 of the CFP.
Unreal! My favorite cupcake so far. Actually, the best cupcake I’ve ever had. Seriously.
Kyle pretty much described my exact reaction. I have a hot tongue, and simply adored the heat this cupcake packs. And not just any heat, but homemade sriracha! You could tell. This beats the pretty amazing spicy brownies at Flying Monkey.
I also love quality chocolate, and it combined perfectly with sriracha for this baby. The ganache was perfectly done. And the crumbles of the cake? A little, but that’s the way it should be, in my view. Like a great cake, some crumbs should spill out, otherwise the texture is too moist IMO. This texture was ideal.
The only problem? This cupcake was so good that I forgot to savor it. It disappeared in under a minute!
Chocolate + Spice = High Kicks in my cube
I adore the combo of chocolate and spice so I was pretty pumped for this week’s selection. The level of spice in the cake was perfect for a wide variety of people. Just enough to leave that happy tingle in your throat.
The frosting was great! Sugar was perfectly incorporated and the whipped texture played nicely off the more dense cake.
The cake was very reminiscent of mexican hot chocolate. Although I think I would prefer it on a plate with a fork than in cupcake form. It’s dense, slightly dry consistency make it difficult to eat. And by difficult I mean I had to lick my sweater to make sure I didn’t miss any crumbs.
I used to be able to wait to eat my Friday cupcakes. These days, they’re all down the hatch before 9:30 a.m. Mostly because I can’t wait to see what’s in store. I was so curious about this one. I love mexican hot chocolate so I was really looking forward to it. It did not disappoint.
I tried the icing first and was wondering where the heat was… Then, I tried the cake and *woo!* Found it! For me, the amount of spice is perfect. And good thing the chocolate ganache is not also spiced – when you eat the cake and icing together, each bite becomes chocolatety spicy goodness. Once again, the cake’s density and moisture (as per usual) is excellent. I can’t wait to take Kevin his to get his opinion – I think it’ll be a hit all around in our household!
New standings: 1 – Salted caramel, 2 – Vanilla bean, chocolate mousse, irish cream, 3 – Lemon limoncello, 4 – Sriracha chocolate, 5 – Raspberry chocolate, 6 – Chocolate chip cookie dough, 7 – Chocolate orange, 8 – Sprite’cakes, 9 – Chocolate cherry
OMG Mel, these look and sound fantastic! And the comments are making me want one right now! You did ship me some, right? Overnight? Coming today? Within the hour, you say? EXCELLENT!
Well, I’ve definitely gotta up my game for my Sriracha cupcakes next week! Cheers on a great post! VIVA LA SRIRACHA!!!
Oh Randy, I have faith in the fact that you could whip up a batch yourself to perfection! I can’t wait to see what recipe you have up your sleeve for your post next week! And if you do make the Sriracha Chocolate Cupcakes, let me know how they come out!
Really fantastic icing. Loved the flavor and texture of the chocolate, and the added sprinkles were perfect! Even as a vanilla (on vanilla) man, I appreciate how good this batch of icing is.
Generally speaking I’m not a fan of mixing savory or spicy with my sweets, but this cake is pretty darn good. Lots of heat, which was interesting for my palette. I agree that the cake was pretty crumbly, but as I said last week that’s never an issue for me.
Even though this wasn’t one of my favorite cupcakes, it’s pretty damn tasty. Hats off to the baker for her creativity!!!
Hooray! Just ate my first cake from CFP, and it was as unique an experience as I had hoped!
Concept: The hot sauce was an inspired idea, and a classic pairing with dark chocolate. Very successful, and not just because I love spicy food. Could easily become a Favorite Treat of mine.
Sweetness: I found the cakes weren’t overly sweet, which was good. It might have just been the bitter from the chocolate balancing it, or you may have cut back the sugar. Either way, I consider it a success.
Texture: The cake was very dense, and quickly became sticky and gluey as I chewed. This was the weakest aspect of the confection for me. While I desire a certain amount of density to evoke the texture of thick Mexican drinking chocolate, I would strive for a better balance.
Overall, a very tasty cupcake! I can’t wait for the next one.
Hey Tim, welcome to Cupcake Friday! I’m glad our rendezvous/pick-up/drop-off worked so well.
I did cut back the sugar. When I scaled up my original recipe, 1.5 cups of sugar seemed like A LOT and I didn’t want the heat to lose out to sweet. And I definitely need to work on texture.
First of all, chocolate flavor was excellent. Clearly high grade.
The cake was denser that I was anticipating, but the moisture was good and it was, I think, ultimately a good complement to the spice – a lighter, fluffier cake I don’t think could have stood up to it. (Note, I had not read that this was an explicit goal of the cupcake before writing that sentence, so good job!)
I did enjoy the flavor as a novelty — it was delicious. However, I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to eat like a lot more of the cake. I want to stress that I did like the flavor combination but, ultimately, I think it was more suited to a savory dish in my mind.
Hi Hal, welcome to CFP! I’m glad you enjoyed the cupcake. I was definitely going for “out-there” with it, just to have a little fun and help promote Randy Clemens’ Sriracha Cookbook. I agree about not going out of my way for one of these cupcakes, mainly because I like my cupcakes to be more on the sweet end of the spectrum. But it was a great challenge to take on!
Brutal Honesty
The frosting was pretty good.
I bit into the cupcake and felt disappointed; however, spice was nice.
The cake was too dense, dry and hard to swallow, so I threw it out.
Oh wow Kevin, I’m sorry! Do you know ifyhe cupcake had been refrigerated for any major length of time yesterday? Cold like that does a number on cakes, robbing them of moisture. Anyway, I’m sorry the cupcake was a disappointment for you, but I hope you’re willing to stick with CFP. This is a learning experience for me, and honest feedback is the only way my baking will improve.
GOOD: The frosting. Tasty as per usual, and the little red sugar sprinkles weren’t overdone, messy or gross or anything (sometimes that is a thing that happens).
GOOD: Spicy flavor/Burn. I thought it was well-balanced and interesting.
NOT SO GOOD: Cake moisture. My cake was actually pretty dry, to the point I had to drink some tea to get it all down.
GOOD: Cake flavor. Aside from the dryness, the cake tasted pretty good. A nice chocolate flavor that went well with the spice.
I WOULD MAYBE ADD: A chocolate mousse filling to help with the dryness?
OVERALL VERDICT: A really good idea that just needs a tweaking, unless I was the only one who had a dry cake, then I guess it’s good to go. Definitely something cool you could have for you bakery to “generate buzz” as CMO shitbags like me say.
Loved this cupcake. I’d say it’s my favorite so far, but I feel like I’m saying that every week….
I was expecting more heat. I had a recent encounter with a habanero cupcake that probably had me prepped to expect the worst. This cupcake was a delightful spice that was easily stomached at 9AM.
The sriracha was a great source to pull the spice from. Loved this idea. Never thought of it, and I’ve never seen it done before. Worked perfectly. In my opinion, it was the right amount of spice to open up my palate to intensify the flavor of the good stuff—the chocolate. The cake had almost a flourless chocolate cake vibe? Very rich, and very dense. I loved the texture (a light, fluffy dream) of the frosting, which over the intense mix of chocolate and spice, was a welcome sweetness.
Presentation? I’m not usually a sprinkles woman, but the red dash was a welcome indicator of the heat below.
Check out my follow-up recipe for Pineapple-Sriracha Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting that Mel posted on her wonderful site! Viva la Sriracha!