Exotic Beverages – As Cupcake Flavors?

Most of you reading this blog grew up with traditional chocolate or white cupcakes, and if you are like me, most of them were from a box mix with canned frosting.  Thanks to a recent popularity of the cupcake in restaurants and bakeries across the nation, today’s recipes are often very untraditional yet clever takes on the sweet treats we all grew up with. 

The exotic flavors in today's cupcakes are inspiring me to think outside the box in my definition of a dessert.  Today's cupcakes are modeled after flavors in exotic beverages! I love when favorite flavors are taken from one food genre to another!
 
1. Chai contains a lovely blend of spices that many coffee shop drinkers have come to enjoy.  But it would never have occurred to me to make a Vanilla Chai cupcake like this one from Some More Please.  It's not like I make caramel macchiato cupcakes.  (Oooh, note to self.  Make caramel macchiato cupcakes.)

3. The Cupcake blog by Chockylit features a recipe for Thai Tea Cupcakes!  Thai tea seems to be a tea version of the Vietnamese coffee – a mix of black tea with spices and sweetened condensed milk.  I’ve never had Thai tea but it sounds and looks amazing!

So what do you think of these unusual flavors?  Are you inspired to try something new in your baking?  If anyone perfects the Café Cubano cupcake let me know – I’m in!!