Pirates of the Caribbean Cupcakes

On Stranger Tides

Today, October 18th, 2011, is the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on Blu-Ray/DVD!  I had really wanted to make these cupcakes back in May when the movies had come out, but I couldn't find the Wilton Pirates of the Caribbean Liners and pics. So I made different Pirates Cupcakes for the theater release.

Visit my Pirates Cupcake Post to learn how they were made!

 For the Blu-Ray release, I have found the liners and picks!  I am making a similar version of the original cupcake. Last time I used a doctored up box mix, this time totally from scratch.

Aztec Chile Chocolate Cupcakes

(Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker's Big Book of Cupcakes)

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 cup strong brewed hot coffee (needs to be hot)

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

3/4 cup shortening

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 1 tablespoon chili powder

 

In large mixing bowl, beat shortening and sugar for about 2 minutes until nice and fluffy. Meanwhile, in seperate bowl, stir the cocoa and coffee together and let sit. Mix together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and chili powder in seperate bowl. Add eggs one at a time into sugar and shortening mixture, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. On low speed alternate adding flour mixture and cocoa mixture, continue mixing for about 1 minute. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 18-20 minutes.

 Makes 24 cupcakes

Cinnamon-Chocolate Frosting

(Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker's Big Book of Cupcakes)

1/2 cup margarine softened

9 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

3 Tablespoons shortening

4-1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup strong brewed hot coffee (needs to be hot)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In small bowl, mix together coffee, shortening, and cocoa powder and let sit. In mixer, mix margarine and vanilla. Add in powdered sugar one cup at a time, alternating with melted coffee/cocoa mixture. Add more coffee if needed to get to piping consistency. Continue mixing on low speed for abut 3 minutes until fully mixed, scrapping sides as needed needed.

  Decorate cupcakes as desired. I piped with 1M swirl and sprinkled with gold, red, and blue sugars.

As you can tell I am a fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean!

Don't the cupcake picks cupcakes look great! The cupcakes taste great too, I really love the flavor of chocolate and chili!

Now, go enjoy the movie!

 

I almost forgot, Today is also National Chocolate Cupcake Day!

What better way to spice it up than with Aztec Chili Chocolate Cupcakes!

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These Cupcakes are Shared at:

The Kurtz Coner: Tuesday Tutorials

Celebrating Family: Family Time Tuesday

Chef in Training: Tuesday Talent Show

Hoosier Homemade: Cupcake Tuesdays

Crazy for Crust: Crazy Sweet Tuesdays
Rook No. 17: A Little Birdie Told Me

Hugs & Cookies XOXO: Wonka Wednesday

Frugal Wannabe Cooks: Foodie Wednesday

This Chick Cooks: These Chicks Cooked

Lady Behind the Curtain: Cast Party Wednesday

It's a Blog Party: Delicious Dishes

Happy Hour Projects: Freestyle Friday

Alli N Son: Sweet Tooth Friday

Mangoes and Chutney: Fat Camp Friday

Bacon Time: Anything Goes Linky

Pirate Cupcakes!

To celebrate the release of Disney's latest Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on 5/20/2011, I, of course, wanted to celebrate with CUPCAKES!

Wilton has made Pirates of the Caribbean products to make this easy! However, after checking out the stores around here there are none to be found...Argh! Sometimes you would think I live in the middle of the Caribbean! Not long ago there was Pirate stuff everywhere, candy molds, everything, but now, nothing to be found! Anyway, I have been able to get some of Wilton's "last years model" Pirate Cupcake Combo Pack, so that is a start! Now, I just need to decide how I am going to execute the plan....

This is The Flying Dutchman from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies!
I was lucky enough to see The Flying Dutchman in person last year at Castaway Cay, Bahamas, while taking a cruise on the Disney Wonder ! It really is one if the coolest things ever to see! I would say the coolest thing ever...but Cinderella's Castle ranks up there too!

Here is is again! This is the actual ship used in the filming of the movies! Awesomeness!

Now back to cupcakes!

One thing I was sure on though, was the flavor to make for these cupcakes- Aztec Chile Chocolate Cupcakes! I found the recipe in the Betty Crocker- The Big Book of Cupcakes. There is also a frosting recipe to go with it. There is an option to make the cupcakes from scratch or to doctor up a Devil's Food box mix. These cupcakes contain 3t chile powder and 1/8t cayenne pepper added to a devils food batter...so they should have lots of flavor! The frosting contains 3c powdered sugar, 1 stick butter, 4T strong brewed coffee, 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, 2t vanilla, and 1t cinnamon (slight variation of book recipe).
Now for the decorations!
I have decided to make little treasure chests to go on top of the cupcakes. While browsing down the candy aisle for inspiration, I found Hershey's Nuggets are kind of shaped like treasure chests, so that should work!

First I used a small knife to slice through the Nuggets, just a little at a time on each side until the knife was able to go all the way through. If you try and cut through in one shot, the Nugget will probably break on you! If you find the Nugget is too hard to cut through, microwave between 7-10 seconds, just enough to soften very slightly, not melt. Save any broken parts to melt, to glue down your gold and to attached the treasure chest lid.

This is what it looks like once it is cut.

Melt any broken pieces you have a little at a time for about 15 seconds to act as glue. If you didn't break any...good for you! The bag contains about 32 Nuggets, so if you are making 24 cupcakes, there are some leftover to melt...assuming none have been pillaged so far! Spread a little of the melted chocolate on top of the bottom of your treasure chest.

Sprinkle with gold sprinkles. I used Wilton Gold Pearlized Sugar.

Sit the top back onto the bottom of the treasure chest to where the top and bottom touch on the back and glue the backside together with your melted chocolate. You may have to shift a little of the gold to get the backsides touching. The fuller you fill the front of the treasure chest with gold, the wider open it will stay.

Repeat until you have made enough for how many ever cupcakes you wish to decorate. 24 treasure chests for me! They go pretty quick once you get in the groove of things. I worked with 4 at a time.

I could have stopped there, but they were still a little plain looking. So I grabbed a piping bag, some red royal icing, and a size 2 tip and piped on some locks and Jolly Rogers-thats "Pirate" for skull and crossbones!

Here is a backside view of the treasure chests.

We tried a test cupcake and they were super yummy! A little bite to them!

Now time to decorate. I made the frosting (recipe is way up there if you didn't read that part!), it was hard not to eat it all! YUM! I am going to have to make that frosting again! I put the frosting in a bag and frosted the first cupcake realizing there was not enough difference between the frosting and the treasure chest, they kinda blended together. I added black coloring to darken up the frosting, this really didn't change the taste of the frosting since I was going from brown to almost black and it didn't take much color to change it. I didn't go jet black, just darker than brown. In the picture below in the top left you can see the cupcake with the uncolored chocolate frosting. 

Lots of treasure!

Fair winds matey!

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These Cupcakes are linked up to:
 Cupcake Tuesdays
Everyday Sisters: Sharing Sundays (Theme: Mexican)
 

These Cupcakes were featured at:
Show Your Cake!