Black Bottom Cupcakes

This may be my favorite cupcake. It combines my love of cupcakes, chocolate, and cheesecake. The all important 3 C’s! My recipe is adapted from allrecipes.com, with just a few minor changes. Mostly that I add plain yogurt to the recipe, and omit the vinegar. I don’t know why, but it just made sense to me when I did it. It tasted great, so I’m sticking to it. You can also make this into a cream cheese filled cupcake by layering: cake mixture, cream cheese mixture, cake mixture. This way allows for frosting, whereas with the method below, the middle of the cupcake sinks a bit making an uneven frosting surface. Try baking these in a mini cupcake pan for extra cute cupcakes.

Factoid: Cupcakes have also been referred to as “fairy cakes” and “patty cakes”.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Servings: Makes 24

Prep & Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 egg1/3 cup white sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 tablespoon plain yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper cups or lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, egg, 1/3 cup sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt until light and fluffy. Stir in the chocolate chips and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, 1 cup sugar, cocoa, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center and add the water, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Stir together until well blended. Fill muffin tins 1/3 full with the batter and top with a dollop of the cream cheese mixture.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

This is a batch I made for my friend's bridal shower. The cream cheese mixture is in the middle, and I made this frosting recipe and then topped each one with an M&M.