Black Bottom Cupcakes with Cocoa Buttercream Frosting
Cream cheese filling inside dark chocolate cupcakes all topped with creamy cocoa buttercream frosting
Equipment
- 2 regular muffin tins
- 24 paper or foil cupcake liners
Ingredients
Dark Chocolate Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 cups cold water
- 1 cup vegetable oil (we use canola oil or safflower oil)
- 1 tsp. cider vinegar
- 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips (60% cacao)
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temp
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
Cocoa Buttercream Frosting
- 4 oz. butter, softened to room temp (1 stick or 1/2 cup)
- 1/2 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 cups powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup milk +/- as needed for spreading or piping consistency
Instructions
Dark Chocolate Cake
- Prepare 24 muffin tins by lining them with paper liners. Spray insides of liners with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Place flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. Blend with a wire whisk.
- Stir in water, oil, cider vinegar and vanilla and blend until smooth. Mix in chocolate chips.
- Fill cupcake liners about 1/3 full with cake batter. Using a large soup spoon, distribute the cream cheese filling (recipe below) evenly over the cake batter in each cupcake liner.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the cake is done and the cream cheese has sunk into the cupcakes. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting. Frosting recipe is below.
- Using a pastry bag with a #824 open star tip and the complementary coupler, pipe the frosting into a beautiful swirl on the top of each cupcake. If you don’t have the pastry bag and tip, simply spread the frosting on top of each cupcake with a cake spatula or butter knife.
- Refrigerate cupcakes in an airtight container until ready to serve. Allow to come to room temp for about 15 mintues before serving.
Cream Cheese Filling
- Put cream cheese and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with electric beaters just until smooth. Don’t over-beat. Add egg and beat just until integrated. Again, don’t over-beat. Stir in vanilla and chocolate chips. Set aside.
Cocoa Buttercream Frosting
- Beat butter in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your standing mixer until creamy and fluffy. Stir cocoa powder into butter mixture using a fork. (If you use the beater, the cocoa powder will fly everywhere and cause a big mess.) Once the cocoa powder is blended in, you can go back to using the beaters.
- Beat in powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Alternate cups of powdered sugar with a little bit of the milk at a time. Stir in vanilla.
- Note* If the frosting seems too runny, simply add a tablespoon or two of powdered sugar to the frosting and if it is too stiff, add a little bit of milk at a time, until you arrive at a good spreading consistency. Different brands of butter have different moisture content, so you may have to make those adjustments.