Chocolate Devil’s Fire Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line two, 12-count muffin pans with the cupcake liners; set aside.

Combine butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in large bowl; beat on high speed with an electric mixer for 3 minutes. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Add dry ingredients alternately with water into the butter mixture. Blend until just combined. Gently stir in the minced habaneros ensuring the bits are well distributed. Fill each cupcake liner to 2/3rds full—a spring loaded ice cream scoop makes quick work of this.

Bake the cupcakes 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven. Cool the cupcakes in the pans on wire racks until they can be handled; then remove them from the pans to cool completely.

In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, slowly heat the cream until it begins to steam slightly. Remove from heat. Add the chocolate chips and let it sit for about a minute. Stir or whisk the mixture until smooth and well-blended. Cool slightly.

Spoon about a teaspoon of ganache on the top center of each cupcake. Simultaneously tilt and slowly swirl in a circular fashion to spread the ganache to the edges. You may use the ganache spoon to help nudge the ganache to the edges.

As an option, when all the cupcakes have been frosted, place one flame decoration vertically onto the center of each cupcake.

Note: Habaneros can wreak havoc on your skin, eyes and nasal passages. Consider using gloves while mincing the chilies. Otherwise, be sure to thoroughly wash your hands, tools and cutting surfaces after processing the peppers. The heat factor of the cupcakes can be adjusted according to your taste preferences. That said, as the recipe is written and once it is baked, the result is a delicious cupcake with a spicy kick, akin to a peppery tingle on the tip of the tongue similar to the sensation derived from eating cinnamon red hot candies. Folks who desire more heat may leave the seeds in, but decrease the chilies by half.