Mexican Chocolate Pudding Cake and Churro Cupcakes

You don't need a fiesta to try these irresistible desserts.

Mexican Chocolate Pudding Cake

Cook's notes: Recipe adapted from Southern Living September 2014

Ingredients:

• 1- 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs 
• 1 cup cake flour 
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon or 1 tsp. Saigon cinnamon 
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground chipotle chile pepper
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt, divided
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp.light brown sugar

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwave-safe bowl at HIGH 1 minute or until melted, stirring at 30-second intervals. Whisk in granulated sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, whisking just until blended after each addition. Whisk in flour, next 3 ingredients, and 1/4 tsp. salt.
• Pour batter into a greased (with butter) 2-qt. baking dish. Stir together sliced almonds, olive oil and brown sugar. Sprinkle almond mixture over cake batter. 
• Bake for 25-30 minutes. (Center will be soft.) Cool on a wire rack 5 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.

A churro is a fried-dough pastry—predominantly choux—based snack. Churros are popular in Spain, France, the Philippines, Portugal, Ibero-America and the Southwestern United States. In Spain, churros can either be thin (and sometimes knotted) or long and thick .

Churro Cupcakes
Cook's Notes:
It would have been fun to top these cupcakes with mini churros but I didn’t have any on hand. Recipe from iheartnaptime.net

Ingredients:

• 2 egg yolks + 1 egg at room temp
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup salted butter, softened
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 -1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Frosting 

• 5 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup salted butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• milk as needed

Cinnamon Sugar mixture to top cupcakes-
1 tsp. cinnamon + 1 tsp. sugar mixed together in a small bowl
Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Whisk the eggs in a large bowl and then combine with butter, sour cream and vanilla.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir ingredients and then combine with the wet ingredients. Mix ingredients for about one minute, or until smooth.
• Pour batter into cupcake liners and bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes clean. Do not over bake!
• Allow cupcakes to cool.
• For the frosting, combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. Beat with mixer until smooth. Slowly add in powdered sugar and continue to mix. Add in vanilla and cinnamon and continue to mix until smooth and creamy. Add milk as needed until frosting is desired consistency.
• Frost cupcakes and sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on top.