Black Bottom Cupcakes

Early last week I got an e-mail asking if I could make 50 cupcakes for an event on Friday night.  There are few things in this world that I love more than cupcakes so of course I wanted to take on the task.  Given that I have a three month old baby at home I needed to find a recipe that would be relatively low maintenance.  These also had to be transported to a different location so they needed to travel well.  It just so happened that I had been eyeing these black bottom cupcakes that I saw on Smitten Kitchen a while back.  They looked super easy and had no frosting so they would not be hurt by a ride in the car.  I went ahead, multiplied the recipe by five and got to work.  I am not sure if I did something wrong in my multiplication but I somehow ended up with a TON of extra cheesecake filling.  So, I happily filled my mini muffin tin and made some delicious cheesecake bites.  A nice bonus I must say!
The cupcakes themselves turned out deliciously!  They have a rich chocolate base that is not too sweet, but perfectly chocolaty and a creamy cheesecake filling that helps the whole thing go down a little too smoothly.  You may want to go back for seconds or thirds, and I promise, I won't judge you.



















Black Bottom Cupcakes
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Filling
8 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temp
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Cupcakes
1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
5 Tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch processed)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the filling:
Mix together cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth.  Fold in chocolate.  Set aside.

Make the cupcakes:
Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat to 350 degrees.
Prepare a muffin tin with liners or spray the tin with oil.
In a medium bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl mix together water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract.  Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it.  Stir until just smooth and be careful not to over-mix.  Divide the cupcake batter evenly into the cupcake tin.  Spoon a few tablespoons of filling on top filling the openings almost completely.
Bake for 25 minutes, until the tops are springy and set.  You can keep these at room temperature for 2-3 days, but they taste better cold.  Store them in an air tight container.

To make cheesecake bites:
Take extra filling and pour into mini muffin tin.  Bake for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until totally set.  Store in freezer-they are delicious straight out of the freezer!