Mexican Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake

!Ay ay ay¡ This cake is literally hot stuff!

Last year I made a sophisticated Prosecco Bubbly Bundt Cake to celebrate Cupid's favourite day of the year, so naturally had to restore the balance with something a little bit wild this year. Inspiration came from my recent trip to Wahaca in London, and some delicious chilli infused honey that I was sent by Gran Luchito.

Mexicans take something as wonderful chocolate and give it some special kind of treatment. They infuse their hot chocolate with cinnamon and chilli to make a sweet yet lively morning drink. I knew honey would be the perfect vessel for for adding chilli to a cake, as it was still quite sweet. This version is mildly smoked and packs quite a punch, so very little goes a long way.

If you're a little worried about adding something spicy to a cake - relax... My friend Claire was literally fuming with me when I appeared with this cheeky number this morning, only to be won round by its sultry charm. This tastes very much like a fudgy chocolate cake, with after-notes of cinnamon and a big kiss of warmth on your lips.

Ingredients

Cake

• 340g unsalted butter
• 360g golden caster sugar
• 5 medium eggs
• 460g plain flour
• 50g cocoa powder 
• 4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 300ml milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp Gran Luchito Chilli Honey

Glaze

• 500g icing sugar
• Red food gel
• Water
• Red Glitter (optional)

Method

1. Grease a regular sized bundt tin (2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch) an sprinkle with a mix of cocoa powder and flour (half and half)
2. Soften the butter and cream in the sugar until pale.
3. Add the eggs one at a time on a low speed. There's a lot of egg here so do it nice and slowly. 
4. Add all the other dry ingredients to a separate large bowl.
5. Add the vanilla extract and honey to the milk and put to one side. Make sure the honey is properly mixed in.
6. Sift 1/3 of the flour mix to the main mix. Fold it in gently.
7. Add 1/2 of the milk mix to the main mix.
8. Repeat this until everything has been incorporated. 
9. Give the whole thing a quick whizz for about 10 seconds on a low speed.
10. Pour the mix into your tin, taking care not to neglect those nooks and crannies!
11. Cook for an hour and a half on Gas 3/160 C, turning after an hour.
12. Leave it to cool for 10 minutes then take the cake out of the tin. It's fairly robust this one!
13. Allow the cake to cool fully.
14. To make the glaze, slowly add water to the icing sugar until it forms a runny glaze. This doesn't have to be as red as Hades, but I preferred it... 
15. Pour over the cake and sprinkle with glitter. Hey, I never said Valentine's Day was tasteful...

This is the perfect cake to share with your loved one, your friends or indeed all by yourself. 

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page. 

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Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.