The heat was very subtle and it was described as little tiny pins on the tip of the tongue. The texture was a real winner. Very light. I used the ingredients in the amounts as written but the directions seemed to not make sense. I mixed the cayenne and baking soda in with the dry ingredients then added them to the wet ingredients because in my experience those ingredients will not mix properly if mixed first with the wet ingredients. I made mini cupcakes and it made over 4 dozen. I did not make the frosting so this review is only on the cake itself. I used a family boiled frosting recipe and piped it onto the cupcake and shaved a chocolate chili candy bar onto them as decoration. I made this recipe twice. First without changing any of the ingredients or amounts, only the procedure and the second time I added more cocoa and swapped the water for decaf coffee per other reviewers suggestions. It was good in both ways. I will definitely be making this again with and without the spice because the recipe itself is quite excellent.

I tasted the batter and the spices were evident and even a tad bit spicy. After baking it however no one could tell there was anything different about these cupcakes from just plain chocolate cupcakes. I did not use the frosting and this review is ONLY on the cupcakes not the frosting. I had my family taste these cupcakes plain without frosting first. I used some homemade vanilla boiled frozen and thawed frosting and added a few pinches of the cinnamon and cayenne. I'm gonna keep trying this concept but with a different recipe.

I haven't actually tried this recipe but it sounds just about exactly like my family's recipe. (My family is German, Irish, and Czech and the recipe likely came from the German and Irish side of the family.) I'm not sure if the recipe author forgot to write this step but we always shred the cabbage and salt it and let it wilt before adding the dressing. We've tweaked it slightly but the flavor remains constant. We now use partially non-fat yogurt to save on calories and the rest mayo. Another idea is that if seeds present an annoyance to perhaps folks with braces or people fussy about their teeth there is such a thing as ground celery seed that is available and we now use that every time we make coleslaw. If ground celery seed is unavailable you could always grind the seed yourself in a coffee grinder dedicated to spices alone.

I made it exactly as the recipe said the first time except for my mistake in adding ingredients at the wrong time. I've never made risotto before and despite my mistake in adding all the ingredients at the beginning this was still amazing. DELICIOUS! As good as restaurant risotto! 4 cloves of garlic is a powerful garlic flavor so next time I'll cut back to perhaps 2 cloves and add my favorite spice- ground rosemary. This is well on it's way to becoming a favorite dish of mine. The texture is so lovely. I would NEVER try to make this with anything other than Arborio rice after reading other risotto reviews of horror at using the incorrect rice.