Sweet and spicy

Chocolate on the mind?  It was a cupcake day after some inspirational chatting with Alicia from Sweet Pea Bakery in Paris and I was in a chocolately mood.  So I whipped up a batch of chocolate cupcakes but game them a slight twist.  Using the cherries I had stashed away in the fridge, I sweetened them up a bit and made chocolate cherry cupcakes.  A first.  Not a last.

I still think they look ridiculous.  Cherries are HUGE.

Then with some of the others, before baking, I mixed in a healthy mix of cayenne pepper and piment doux, a sort of milder spice in France that I love (more for the color than the taste).  These spicy concoctions were particularly tasty with the buttercream on top.

Talk about heat...I almost needed a glass of water afterwards but I stood strong.

Too bad the sun came out mid-baking.  It would have been the perfect rainy day activity.  Guess it's time to make up for it now!