Jalapeño Cupcake: My Very First Cupcake

[js]Never in a million years did I think I would bake a cupcake.

First, I honestly don't even know what a cupcake is. I mean, I knew it was some sort of baked good and usually came in one of those liner things, but I always thought they were just muffins.

Muffins and cupcakes: to this ignorant non-baker, they have the same shape, so what's the difference?

I saw Alton Brown in the cupcake episode of Good Eats saying that cupcakes were actually cakes baked in a smaller form, in cups, but that didn't help me any. Cakes, muffins: again, what's the difference?

Anyways, I decided all this questing to alleviate my ignorance is futile and beside the point. Best to dive into making a cupcake, because Maybelle's mom, who shall henceforth be known as my blog-whisperer, told me to.

I wanted to do some sort of guava-jalapeño cupcake, based on our salad, because, as mentioned, my blog-whisperer told me to. A guava-jalapeno cupcake would actually be doable, because fortuitously we still had some of these hard-to-find guavas in the house.

Un-fortuitously though, I was the one who had to do the guava-jalapeño cupcakes, and given my absolute ignorance, I don't think I could have played around with the basic recipe too much. At least, more than I already had.



I used America's Test Kitchen recipe for yellow cupcakes, halved it, and used our expired yogurt (strawberry-in-the-bottom) in place of the buttermilk.

I grated one jalapeño into the batter (and the cupcakes could have used more). The resulting cupcakes had the merest whisper of strawberry, which was great, and a hint of a very fragrant green-ness from the jalapeño.

To add more jalapeño goodness to the cupcakes, I grated some more and rubbed it over the top (for that green tinge). I also added some of it to the inside as I was eating.



These cupcakes are evil, because they were so good! It was actually very surprising. It exceeded my expectations and made me exceed my daily recommended intake of fat and calories.

I don't think I'll be a cupcake hero here, since these cupcakes are very basic, no-frills, like a discount cupcake. But they were yummy enough that they got devoured during the first day.

(I had originally planned to add our ginger-guava jam as a topping to the cupcakes. But, after eating a cupcake adorned only with grated jalapeño, I decided it was perfectly fine the way it was.)

We're submitting this to Cupcake Hero.
Though, of course, I'm no hero. I think my cupcake is, at most, a Cupcake Sidekick.

This edition's hosts are Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart and Teri of The 90/10 Rule.

Info on Cupcake Hero here.


Jalapeño Cupcake
adapted from an America's Test Kitchen recipe
Makes 12

dry ingredients
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda

2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2/3 cups sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup yogurt
1-2 jalapeños, grated

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Sift together dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, vanilla extract and sugar until combined. Then add the melted butter, yogurt and grated jalapeño. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet until combined.

Fill each cupcake liner until 3/4 of the way full. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, rotating halfway through, approximately 20 to 25 minutes. (Check at 15 minutes.)

Cool pan on rack. If desired, cupcake can be decorated with more grated jalapeño.