Spicy St. Patrick's Day

With family visiting in early March I had a chance to get to my favorite spice and tea shop in the city. When I was there I picked up some habanero sugar - because I can't resist something new that I've never tried before. Seriously - we have more spices than we know what to do with. I could use a whole cabinet for all our spices (and sugars...and teas).

For St. Patrick's Day, work got a treat with a kick. I made chocolate cupcakes and replaced 2 Tbsp of plain sugar with 2 Tbsp of habanero sugar. They were great. There was the chocolate flavor and then a little kick at the end. I paired them with a Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Personally, I hated the frosting - way too much butter and not enough sugar, but everyone else seemed to like it. I'll take my American buttercream any day.

(I was also super proud about how good looking the frosting came out on these)

Close up - look at that beautiful frosting detail!

My mouth is watering looking at the picture