Oh Yeah They're FIERCE!

CB over at I heart Cuppycakes and Andrea over at Born to Entertain are hosting a "fierce" cupcake challenge. See it's inspired by this designer on Project Runway who reminds me of a gay little boy version of Paris Hilton. Fairly amusing. Fairly annoying. But as I've been feeling a little on the fierce side of life myself as of late I decided this was one I was going to get in the spirit with.

So here they are. My super fierce, oh yeah, oh no I didn't cupcakes. These luscious and yet kicky treats aren't taking crap from anyone. They aren't too sweet and have one heck of a bite. What's more, they get on with their fierce selves in full makeup and the utmost in fashion footwear. They're also fierce 'cause they aren't afraid to speak their minds. Good luck getting to shut them up in fact. There were 4 of them, but Roxanne plunged to her death in the hot oven rather than be objectified by the masses. She's still haunting me to this day.


Lola

Sophia

and Veronica

And really it's a good thing there were originally only 4 of them. If there were say 18 or 20 I might just have to eat them all myself. They were so very delicious. And yet kicky. (This is actually the first thing I've made out of this cookbook and it worked out really well!) And this was what getting their picture taken was like...



Really Fudgy Fierce Cupcakes
adapted loosely from Small Batch Baking

4 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 ounce semisweet chocolate chips
1 Tbsp yogurt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
yolks of 2 medium eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp Hershey Special Dark cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. and prepare 4 muffin cups.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave just until melted and set aside until cool, but still soft.
Whisk together the yogurt, egg yolks, buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl.
Place the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cayenne, and salt in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the butter and half the yogurt mixture. Beat with a hand mixer until combined. Pour in the melted chocolate and the remaining yogurt mixture and beat for about 1 1/2 minutes until well blended.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake the cupcakes until a tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. About 20 minutes.

Fierce Chocolate Ganache

1/4 cup chocolate chips
2 Tbsp heavy cream
2 pinches cayenne pepper

Place the chocolate chips in a little bowl. Add the 2 pinches of cayenne to the heavy cream and heat in the microwave until hot, but not bubbling. Pour the cream mixture into the little bowl and let sit for a little bit to let the chocolate melt. Stir to combine.

To assemble:

The cupcakes will have developed a divot in the center of each cupcake. Pour the chocolate ganache into the indents to create the open mouth of the screaming cupcakes. Wait until the chocolate has set. This is the hard part. Once the chocolate has set use decorating icing to create a mouth, eyes, lips, and teeth. Further embellish with sprinkles and jimmies.