Cincinnati Chili Cupcakes Recipe

To make the cakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a cupcake pan with papers.

Add the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, salt and spices to a large bowl. Stir with a wire whisk until full incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and stir to distribute.

Mix together the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water in a small bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Fill the cupcake papers three quarters full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with only a few crumbs clinging.

Cool for 5-10 minutes and then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Frost and decorate.

To make the frosting:

Beat the margarine and shortening until smooth.

Slowly sift in the powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla extract and beat until mixed in.

Fill a piping bag with a #4 Wilton tip or snip a very small opening to create the "spaghetti".

To decorate:

I made the orange "cheese" with orange colored white chocolate. I get dairy-free white chocolate from Chocolate Emporium. I melted the chocolate chips carefully in the microwave and then added both Wilton Lemon Yellow and Orange icing colors to get the ideal orange shade. I chilled the colored block of chocolate in the freezer. When I was ready to decorate, I microwaved the block of chocolate in 5 second increments to get it just warm and pliable enough to grate.