Black-Bottom Cupcakes

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there! Hope you are all having a wonderful day!

I found this recipe over at Culinary in the Desert. They adapted it from David Lebovitz. These are great cupcakes. They are very chocolately without being overly sweet. I had never made these kind before but would make them again in a heartbeat! Very simple to make but you do use several bowls!!!

The Filling

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

2 ounces coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate (I used semi sweet chocolate chips)

For the Cupcake Batter

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

5 tablespoons natural cocoa powder (I used Hershey's cocoa powder)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the filling: In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth and combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

For the cupcake batter: Preheat over to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, espresso powder and salt.

In another medium bowl, whisk together water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Pour mixture into the dry ingredients stirring until just combined. Evenly divide batter between wells of a 12 cup muffin tin using baking muffin cups. Evenly divide the cream cheese filling mixture between the chocolate batter filled cups, aiming at the center of each. (I used about 1 tablespoon of filling per cup and had a bit left over).

Place pan into oven and bake until tops are very lightly golden brown and they feel springy when pressed, about 22 to 26 minutes. Remove and let rest for a few minutes before removing from pan.

Makes 12 cupcakes.