Black Bottom Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

* 8 oz cream cheese (softened to room temperature)

* 1 egg

* 1 1/3 cups sugar

* 3/4 tsp salt

* 1 cup min chocolate chips

* 1 1/2 cups flour

* 1/4 cup baking cocoa

* 1 tsp baking soda

* 1/2 cup canola oil

* 1 tsp white vinegar

* 1 tsp vanilla extract

HOW TO MAKE:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. In a bowl, beat together cream cheese, egg, 1/3 cup of the sugar and 1/4 tsp of salt until creamy. Add in chocolate chips. Set aside.

In another bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, remaining cup of sugar and 1/2 tsp of salt. Add oil, vinegar, vanilla and 1 cup of water. Mix until combined.

Spoon chocolate batter into cupcake liners (a little under 1/2 way full). Then scoop a spoonful of cheesecake mixture on top (do not overfill). Spread until even on top. Bake for 20-25 mins or until top is puffed and golden.

Makes about 15 cupcakes.

So, I debated about posting this recipe. It gave me some problems but I think it's because I swayed a bit from the original recipe. However, the end result was too delicious that I couldn't not share it. :)

The first problem was that I didn't let my cream cheese soften to room temperature. This is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT because if the cream cheese is too cold, it won't cream up. You will be left with a lot of little chunks in the mixture and you will be left with a watery topping rather than a smooth, cheesecake texture. Secondly, make sure to use MINI chocolate chips. I used regular ones and this weighed down the cream cheese batter and melted all over the cupcakes. Very messy. Lastly, be careful how full you fill your cupcake liners. I filled them too much with the chocolate batter so by the time I added the cream cheese mixture, the liner was completely full. As it baked and rised, it just spread across the cupcake pan. If you like cake more than cheesecake, fill most of the liner with the chocolate. If you like cheesecake more than the chocolate, add less chocolate and more cheesecake. The ratio is completely up to you. Just remember, DON'T FILL THE CUPCAKE LINERS TO THE TOP and you should be fine. Once I got the cupcakes out, it was absolutely delicious. I wish I would have had more of the cheesecake mixture on them cuz that was soooo good! Don't let my mistakes scare you. That's why I try them out first before posting so I get most of the mistakes out of the way. Have fun and enjoy!

Monkey Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

* Box of chocolate cake mix

* Chocolate frosting

* Vanilla Wafers

* Red food gel

* Black food gel

HOW TO:

It's pretty self explanatory from the photo, but once the cupcakes are baked and frosted, cut off the tip of each vanilla wafer to use for the monkey's mouth. Use the tips for the ears. A serrated knife is best since it doesn't crumble the cookies when you cut it. Just be gentle.

After the ears and mouth is on, use the red gel for a smile and the black gel for eyes and nose.

That's it! Super easy and fun!

Enjoy! :)

Coconut Lemon Cupcakes

This is just like the lemon cupcakes below.

Ingredients:

*Lemon cake mix
*Coconut
*Buttercream frosting


How To:

Make cake according to directions. Before spooning into the cupcake pan, stir in some coconut (anywhere from 1/2 cup to 1 cup). Bake according to directions on the box. When the cupcakes are cooled, pipe frosting on top and sprinkle with coconut.

I didn't taste these but was told it was good. So other than it being super easy, I don't have much else to add except for you to try them yourself. :)

Lemon Cupcakes

These look homemade but it's actually a boxed cake with a few added ingredients. :)

Ingredients:

*Lemon cake mix
*Lemon juice
*Powdered sugar
*Milk
*Pillsbury buttercream frosting
*Lemon drops

How To:

Make batter and bake according to directions. When the cupcakes are cooled, use a toothpick to poke holes on the top of each cupcake. In a bowl, pour in about 1 cup powdered sugar. Add a small amount of milk to get a glaze consistency (a few tablespoons). When you get the desired consistency, add lemon juice until it's as sour as you like. Pour small spoonfuls of the glaze over each cupcake. Pipe frosting over each cupcake and decorate with one lemon drop.

I didn't taste this cupcake but was told it was really good and lemony. If you want an extra bite of lemon, use a lemon frosting instead of buttercream.

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

Dry Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ( Dutch process like Droste or another GOOD brand)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk

4 ounces milk chocolate (cooled for about 15 min make sure its still melted though don?t want it to harden back up)

½ cup plus 1 tbsp water, heated to boiling ( have a kettle of water on the stove boiling ready to go)

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs room temp

2 tablespoons vinegar (not wine vinegar)

1 tablespoon vanilla



Instructions

This can be done with a stand mixer or by hand with a hand mixer or whisk but it is more of a 2 bowl method than one if going the hand mixing route

1. Preheat oven to 350F with rack in the center.

2. Place paper baking cups in regular sized muffin tins

3. Whisk together the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt)

in a large bowl.

4. In a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer whisk eggs till slightly thickened and a pale

color

5. Add in the milk, vanilla, oil and vinegar and whisk/beat well

6. Add in the melted and cooled chocolate and whisk/beat until combined well

7. Either add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients OR the wet into the flour and mix

just to combine. Add in the boiling water and mix again just to combine. Scrape

down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure all the dry ingredients are

incorporated

8. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups

9. Bake 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and free

of crumbs or the cupcake tops bounce back when lightly pressed.

10. Let cool for 5 min in pans and then remove carefully to a wire cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting

Cherry Filling:

*Cherry pie filling (1 can)
*Pillsbury Buttercream Frosting

After writing down all the ingredients, I realized I never added any of the water to my recipe. Luckily, the cupcakes still turned out really good so, you can either add the water or not. The difference is that my cupcakes sunk in the middle so maybe the water thing was the reason.

After the cupcakes came out and cooled a bit, I mixed together the pie filling and frosting until it was pink in color and tasted like a filling. Add however much of both to your taste. I pushed down the middle of each cupcake to make a small well for the filling to go into then I piped buttercream frosting over the top and placed a chocolate dipped maraschino cherry on top. I added red sprinkles for color. They were super sweet but very good! :)

Chocolate and Lemon Butterfly Cupcakes

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE INGREDIENTS:

*1 oz semisweet chocolate
*9 tbsp butter, softened
*2/3 cup sugar
*1 cup flour
*2 eggs
*2 tbsp baking cocoa
*confectioners' sugar for dusting


LEMON CUPCAKE INGREDIENTS:

*3/4 cup flour
*1/2 tsp baking powder
*1/2 cup sugar
*2 eggs
*grated rind of 1 lemon
*2 tbsp lemon juice
*confectioners' sugar for dusting


HOW TO:

For the chocolate cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with cupcake liners. Place butter, sugar, flour, eggs and cocoa in large bowl. Beat til smooth. Melt the semisweet chocolate and add to the mixture. Spoon batter into the liners. Bake for 15 minutes or until springy to the touch. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

For lemon cupcakes: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with cupcake liners. Sift flour and baking powder into large bowl. Add butter, sugar, eggs, lemon rind and lemon juice. Beat til smooth. Spoon batter into liners. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.


HOW TO DECORATE:

There are a few options for making the frosting for the cupcakes. One is making the buttercream frosting (recipe follows) and another is just buying frosting from the store (much easier, i know!).

When the cupcakes are cold, cut the top off each cake then cut the top in half to make two half circles. Spread or pipe a little of the frosting on each cupcake then gently press the two cut pieces into the frosting to resemble wings. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:

*6 tbsp butter, softened at room temperature
*2 cups confectioners' sugar
*2-3 tbsp milk (for thickness)

Place butter in the bowl and beat til fluffy. Carefully add sugar. Beat in enough milk to make the frosting spreadable. Spread over cupcakes.


**Ok, so this recipe was interesting. Super easy and quick to make the cupcakes but the decorating part (although not hard) took a bit longer. I used margarine for the buttercream...**DON'T DO THAT!** The frosting tasted so gross. Use real butter. I ended up throwing out the buttercream and using regular frosting. It tasted fine that way and probably would have saved time. But by all means, be creative and try the buttercream. Just remember to use the right kind of butter. Enjoy!**