I got this recipe from
Anny's Blog. You can find her recipe by clicking
here. I used her recipe for the filling, but since I didn't have a cake mix, I decided I would make the cupcake part from scratch. When I was about 10 years old, whenever I got bored I baked. Once I made the most fabulous cupcakes ever. However, I don't remember which recipe I used and remember that I got mixed up when I was making them so, even if I remembered which one it was, I probably couldn't recreate them.
First, following Anny's directions, I made the filling for the cupcakes. In a small bowl, I added my cream cheese, sugar, salt and egg and let them mix while I lined my cupcake pan.
Sure enough, once my pan was lined, my cream cheese mixture was smooth and creamy. I then dumped in my chocolate chunks, stirred it all together and set it aside while I made the cake batter.
I think the recipe I tried to make back when I was 10 was for Black Forest Cake, so I figured what the heck, I'll use that recipe. It has a variety of fillings you can make if you make the cake, so another reason to use this recipe since it's cake made to use with fillings.
I put 2 egg whites in a bowl using my egg separator. If you don't have a separator you can crack the egg, careful to not let the egg yolk fall out. You have to kind of hold the egg with two hands, crack it and then turn it up so that instead of pulling it apart sideways, you pull the top off of it. The egg yolk should stay in the shell that is the bottom and then you gently pour the yolk into the other half of the shell letting the white fall into the bowl. I put the egg yolks in a small bowl and set them to the side.
I turned on my mixer and realized that my egg whites weren't getting beat that well probably because my bowl was too big, so I transfered them into a smaller bowl and gradually added 1/2 cup of sugar until beat them until soft peaks formed.
I poured the egg whites back in the bigger mixing bowl. However, when I got to the last part of the recipe after mixing in the flour and everything else, it said to fold the egg whites into the batter. I read through the recipe twice before I started and still have no idea how I missed that part.
When you're measuring flour, don't scoop it out of the canister or bag with your measuring cup. You'll end up using too much flour and your cake will be heavy. Use a spoon and spoon it into the measuring cup and then level it off with the flat part of your spoon or a butter knife.
I added 1 3/4 cups of self-rising flour, 1 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup vegetable oil and 1/2 cup milk to the mixing bowl and mixed it for about 1 minute while I constantly scraped the sides of the bowl. An advantage to having a paddle mixer may be that you don't have to scrape the bowl. I still love my stand mixer though.
Then I added another 1/2 cup milk, the egg yolks, 6 tablespoons of cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons of butter (the recipe called for two 1 ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled) and let it mix for about another minute while scrapping the sides of the bowl.
This would be where you should fold in the egg whites. Come to think of it, I don't remember folding in egg whites and I think I added semi-sweet chocolate instead of unsweet. I may try this again later using semi-sweet and folding in my egg whites!
I filled my cupcake pan with the batter and then spooned in the cream cheese filling. I filled them a little too full, as you'll see in a minute, but they still turned out okay.
Then I put them in the oven and let them bake for 18 minutes. Like Anny said, depending on what kind of pan you have, you might need more or less time. I checked on them after 15 minutes and then at 18 minutes I stuck a toothpick in the cake part closest to the middle and it came out clean. At first I stuck it in the middle and it came out covered in chocolate!
I let them cool in the pan for a few minutes and then used a butter knife, running it around the cupcake and gently lifting it out of the pan and put them on a rack to cool while I made the next batch.
I didn't fill the cups quite so full with the next batch. I made 18 cupcakes total. Now for the frosting! I used the frosting recipe off the back of the Hershey's Cocoa Powder can just like Anny did.
1 stick Buter
2/3 cup Cocoa Powder
3 cups Powdered Sugar
1/3 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
First melt the butter and pour it and the cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and stir it together. Don't turn on the mixer or you'll be breathing chocolate!
The directions said to alternate powdered sugar and milk, but I just dumped it all in and stirred it together to moisten the powdered sugar before I turned on the mixer.
I turned the mixer on high and let it mix until it was almost smooth and creamy. It was a little thick so I added just a little bit more milk until it was the thickness I wanted.
Then I frosted the cupcakes. I used the back of a spoon to frost the tops and then gently pressed down and pulled the spoon up to create little peaks all over the top.
And then I ate it. I couldn't wait. It looked so good. It was so good despite my earlier goof.
And then I frosted the rest of the cupcakes.
Thank you
Anny for one of the best cupcake recipes I've ever made!
I'm glad you made it and I hope you like it! It was a popular at work, and everyone wants to have an extra to keep at their desk.
I'll have to try the cake batter from scratch, I bet it beat the box mix I got!
I probably would have used a box if I had one, but I was too lazy to go to the store! Actually, I got bad about going to the grocery store three or four times a week so I'm trying to go only twice a week now. Hubby was upset that he didn't get to lick the frosting bowl, but then he tasted how rich the frosting was and said it would have been to rich. He loved the cupcakes too!
I'm glad your Hubby enjoy the cupcakes too :) I know, I only have my grandkids here a few times a year, so I didn't have anyone licking the spatula or the bowl clean. I recently made the Chocolate Trifle at work for a going away, and a coworker was gladly licking the spoons for the chocolate pudding and whip cream clean! :)
Awesome Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcake Recipe!