Valentine’s Day Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate and Cinnamon Hearts

These Valentine's Day Cupcakes are an addictive combo of dark chocolate and spicy cinnamon heart candies. If you like cinnamon hearts, you will LOVE these!

It's Throw Back Thursday time again, and this #tbt is just in time for Valentine's Day. I've been dreaming of these Valentine's Day cupcakes ever since I first posted them back on February 6th, 2012. They're moist, dark chocolate cupcakes infused with spicy cinnamon hearts flavor. Seriously, can you think of anything more delicious? Ya, me neither.

These #tbt posts have become some of my favorites here on TEM. It all started last summer when I was going through all my posts with my then new Grammarly app to correct some of the embarrassing, sleepy-eyed mistakes I had made.

What I found (grammar mistakes aside) were some awesome recipes, with really terrible pictures. These Throw Back Thursday posts are my way of sharing these recipes with you and letting us both have a little laugh at some of my first attempts at photography.

The original photos of these Valentine's Day cupcakes are definitely not the worst I've taken. They were one of the first photos I had accepted onto FoodGawker. I remember what a big deal that felt like, and how proud I was of myself!

Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the post to see the original pics.

But first … make these dark chocolate and cinnamon hearts Valentine's Day cupcakes. Stat!

Original post date: February 6th, 2012

You know how some things just scream Valentine's Day? Like those Valentine cut-out cards that are exchanged by seven-year-olds in grade two. Do they still do that? Or heart-shaped candies that say ‘Be mine' and ‘I heart you.' Seems they now also say 'email me' which makes me laugh more than I think it should. Or fiery red cinnamon hearts that seem to have resisted any change since I was a child.

Mmm … cinnamon hearts. If Valentine's Day were a flavor, this is what it would taste like.

I'll never know why it took me so long to marry cinnamon hearts with dark chocolate. They really do deserve to be together. Forever. The dark chocolate holds its own without overpowering the cinnamon. And while the cinnamon hearts are certainly the most outspoken of the two, they manage to not take over the dark chocolate. If they were a real-life couple, they'd make the perfect team.

These little guys had me proclaiming my love for them after the first bite. Whatever your plans are for Valentine's Day, please, please, please, include these dark chocolate and cinnamon hearts cupcakes in them.

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Valentine's Day Cupcakes: Dark Chocolate and Cinnamon Hearts

• Author: Kristen Stevens
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 35 mins
• Yield: Makes 12 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Cuisine: American

★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

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Description

Warm someone's heart with these delicious Dark Chocolate and Cinnamon Hearts Valentine's Day Cupcakes on Valentine's Day.

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons black cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate, melted
• 6 tablespoons whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1/2 cup cinnamon hearts, ground in food processor
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon oil

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Instructions

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tin with paper or silicone liners.
2. In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and both cocoa powders
3. In a large bowl beat together butter, cream, melted chocolate, cinnamon oil, egg and egg white
4. Whisk flour mixture into wet ingredients until just smooth
5. Pour batter into prepared tins and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean

For the icing:

1. With an electric mixer, cream together butter, icing sugar, ground cinnamon hearts and cinnamon oil
2. Use a knife or a pastry bag to decorate the cupcakes. Add an extra (or many extra) cinnamon hearts on top

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Notes

Black cocoa powder is a super rich alkalized cocoa powder that is used to boost color, think Oreos. You can easily substitute regular cocoa powder for the same taste, but the cupcakes will not be as dark.

The Original Pictures

If you’re interested in learning a few tricks that I did to improve my food photography, check out the posts 10 Food Photography Tips for New Food Bloggers,  The 10 Best Food Photography Props to Improve Your Food Photography and The Food Photography Equipment I Use.