Yummy Mummy Recipe: Chocolate Cream Cheese Surprise Cupcakes

This past weekend I was given the task of contributing dessert for my Hubby’s Sunday Dinner. My Mama- In- Law has welcomed us over every weekend since I’ve known the family, and I have come to love this weekly tradition. One thing you need to know about these dinners is that Mama Mary does a full spread- usually 3 or 4 courses- so I wanted to make sure my efforts did her dinner justice. 

It goes without saying I’m a Pinterst addict, so I had plenty of recipes to choose from, but had a specific one in mind. I found it on The Capitol Baker, and had been wanting an excuse to try it (not that I needed an excuse to make them, more like I needed an excuse to eat them!). I was glad to finally have a reason to give it a try and was more than happy with the result (added bonus: these were really easy to make).

Ingredients

For the Filling:

8 oz. (1 cup) reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the Cupcake:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups water

2/3 cups vegetable oil

2 Tbsp white vinegar

2 tsp vanilla extract

For the Icing:


1/2 cup butter, room temperature
pinch salt
4 oz (1/2 cup) cream cheese
2 1/4 cups icing sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line muffin cups with paper liners. 

First prepare the filling- beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg and salt in a bowl until smooth and creamy.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

In a separate bowl stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Add the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla.  Beat for 3 minutes.  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Spoon 1 level Tbsp of the filling into the center of each cupcake. 

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the cake portion comes out clean.  Let cool for 5 minutes in the pans.  Remove from pans to wire rack.  Cool completely. 

For the icing, mix al ingredients together until smooth (this will be a thick icing). Pipe the icing on & decorate to your heart’s content!