SK week 7 | Black Bottom Cupcakes

Smitten Kitchen posted this recipe a week or two ago and I decided it sounded like a perfect dessert for Valentine's Day. So I made them for our Tuesday night friends this week and....everyone hated them. Kidding--but we'll get to the verdict later. ;)

(Here's the Smitten Kitchen post)

You'll need:
(for the filling...)
8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 ounces chopped chocolate or 1/2 cup chocolate chips
(for the cupcakes...)
1 1/2 cups flour (I used GF)
5 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 and take a mixer to the cream cheese.

Then beat in the sugar....

And the egg.

Stir in the chocolate chips (I ended up using mini chocolate chips, not the ones in the photo, because I didn't feel like chopping them).

Put that aside while you make the cupcake batter. (I actually stuck it in the fridge).

Measure your flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

Whisk those together and set aside. (If your flour or cocoa are lumpy, better sift them).

Combine your remaining ingredients--brown sugar, water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.

Whisk those together.

Make a well in your dry ingredients...

And pour the wet mixture into it.

Stir together until just combined. Don't over mix.

Line your muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Fill the liners about half full with the cupcake batter.

Then grab your cream cheese mixture from the fridge. And grab a scoop or spoon.

Plop some of this mixture into each cup (it ended up being a scoop plus a little to use up all the cream cheese mixture).

Then top with a little more of the cupcake batter. (I started getting a little nervous here. These cups got really full. But it all worked out).

Swirl the tops of each cup to combine the two mixtures a little bit. Pop them in your preheated oven and bake for about 25 minutes (mine needed an extra minute or two).

They definitely spilled over the edges a little bit, but not too bad. :) The centers will sink a little as they cool--perfectly normal.

Cool them on the counter and then stick them in the fridge before serving. They taste best cold with that cheesecake center. And no need for frosting--they're magical as is. ;)

Final verdict: We all loved them! And I was impressed that they translated to gluten-free so well without any other tweaks. We did kind of want some sort of fruit component. I'd even just drop a raspberry on each top, in that perfectly sunken center--that would be cute.

Overall these were pretty easy and definitely a crowd-pleaser. I'll for sure make them again! Enjoy!