Spending 2 hours making a dessert is more than I’m usually willing to commit to.  But if you’ve got a special birthday party, you’re trying to get a raise, or you really pissed somebody off… these may do the trick.

I doctored a chocolate cake mix with cayenne pepper and cinnamon and turned store-bought dulce de leche into a super yummy frosting.  And there’s sprinkles.  Cupcakes are NEVER FINISHED UNTIL THERE ARE SPRINKLES.  Life lesson, folks.

Give it a try!  It takes 2 hours… but at the end you have cupcakes!  That’s probably a better outcome than you’ll get with almost anything else you can spend that time doing, amiright?

Print Recipe

Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Frosting

Course

Dessert

Cuisine

Moderate Effort

Cook Time

1 hour

Passive Time

1 hour

Servings

cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 1 box chocolate cake mix
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs

Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 8 oz dulce de leche (1 jar from Trader Joe's)
• 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
• sprinkles
• fleur de sel

Course Dessert Cuisine Moderate Effort Cook Time 1 hour Passive Time 1 hour Servings cupcakes Ingredients Cupcakes 1 box chocolate cake mix 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 2 tsp cinnamon 1 1/4 cups whole milk 1/2 cup greek yogurt 1/2 cup vegetable oil 3 eggs Frosting 8 oz cream cheese 1 tsp vanilla 8 oz dulce de leche (1 jar from Trader Joe's) 2 cups powdered sugar sifted sprinkles fleur de sel

Instructions

Make cupcakes

1. Put all cupcake ingredients into a bowl and beat for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat for another 2 minutes.
2. Fill cupcake pan with liners and divide batter to make 24 cupcakes. Bake according to box directions, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
3. Remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Make frosting and decorate

1. Beat cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Add dulce de leche and beat until well combined. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Put frosting in a piping bag or zipper bag and store in refrigerator to firm up until ready to use.
2. When cupcakes are completely cool, snip off the end of the bag of frosting to create a hole approximately 1/2 inch in diameter. Pipe a swirl of frosting onto each cupcake.
3. Sprinkle frosting with sprinkles of your choice (I used cinnamon sprinkles and chocolate crunchy pearls). Sprinkle with a small amount of fleur de sel or other flaky sea salt.

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