Black and White Cupcakes

My husband is a high school teacher and he coaches girls volleyball.  I often send much of the stuff I bake to school with Justin, for the girls’ breakfast, so we don’t end up eating them all at home.  I had  promised one of the girls that I would make her cupcakes for her birthday. But I didn’t expect my husband to be sick and after making dinner, helping my son with homework, giving three baths and reading books myself, it was getting late and I was getting really tired.  I decided it would take too long to bake cupcakes, cool them and frost them, so I would have to look to make something else. I pulled one of Mrs. Fields’ cookbooks off my shelf. While she does make some fabulous cookies, her books also contain recipes for many other types of baked goods. When I was paging through the book, the black and white cupcakes caught my eye. They have a dense chocolate cake base with chocolate chips and a top that is swirled with sweetened cream cheese.  Who doesn’t like the chocolate and cheesecake combination?? Well, maybe my kids who both had me cut the white part off so they could just eat the chocolate cake. Geez. Anyways, I thought this would be perfect for the high school crowd. Cupcakes without all the hassle of frosting and they travel well too. Bonus! 😀

Black and White Cupcakes:

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Cream Cheese Layer

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

I added a splash of vanilla, probably about 1/4 tsp

Cake Layer

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

3 oz. semisweet chocolate chips (~ 1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with liners.

Prepare the cream cheese layer: In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the sugar, egg, and vanilla (if using) until well blended.

Make the cake layer: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl, beat the water, oil, egg, and vanilla.  Add to the flour mixture and stir  just until combined. Stir in half of the chocolate chips.

Fill the muffin cups halfway with cake batter.  Using the rest of the cake batter and all of the cream cheese batter, spoon equal amounts of each on top of the cake batter, creating a top that is half chocolate and half cream cheese. Then sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, before removing the cupcakes from the tin.

Source: Mrs. Fields Best Ever Cookie Book

Helpful Hints:

• While the recipe didn’t say to do so, I sifted the cocoa because I always find it to be lumpy and won’t mix well into the batter otherwise.
• I like to use a skewer to swirl the cream cheese batter and chocolate batter- I just like how that looks instead of half and half.
• Watch the cupcakes very closely toward the end of baking time (start checking at about 25 minutes), so as not to over bake them or they will be dry.

Posted by Just Baked on December 9, 2011

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