Cheese Cake Layered Chocolate Cupcakes

Watch out for this triple threat! Chocolate, Cheese Cake, and Chocolate liqueur, oh and lets not forget… dipped in chocolate ganache! I apologize to those on a New Years resolution to cut back on sweets; I am not on such a resolution :)

Here’s how the story goes of how I managed to put cheesecake inside a chocolate cupcake!

I had originally started off with a new recipe that I had thought up while traveling abroad over Christmas. How could I make a saturated fat and egg free cupcake? There are many reasons I would want to play in the world of recipe alterations; mostly because I would like to offer different options to customers with dietary needs. So onward with the experimentation!

Whisk together all of the dry ingredients and dig a hole in the sand. I guess I really did have my mind on the beach when creating this recipe!

Then I gathered all of the liquid ingredients into a cup with a spout! Please note that the ingredient list says “Boiling Water” please follow that direction. Since there are no eggs in the batch you need the hot water to react with the baking soda to create a rise in the batter! Thanks  :)

I think that the last 4 pictures speak for themselves in “what to do next”.

It was at this stage that I thought that this recipe was missing something. Was this just going to be another batch of chocolate cupcakes? Hmmmm.  Then, with not a lot of searching I found an unopened package of cream cheese in the fridge. I think we can safely say that the idea of an egg and saturated fat free recipe just went out the window…

Basically I made a small batch of cheese cake batter and spooned about 1 tbsp of cheese cake batter into the 1/3 filled cupcake batter and then covered the cheese cake with the rest of the chocolate batter!

They baked up just fine!

Once they finished cooling off, I dipped them in a chocolate ganache… well, actually, I double dipped them in the chocolate.

Anxious to see what it would look like on the inside I cut one open and was pleasantly surprised. I really had no idea what it would turn out like. Next time I might do two layers of cheese cake!

The recipe is below, enjoy!

Chocolate Cupcake Batter

1 1/2 Cups All Purpose flour

3/4 Cups Brown Sugar

1/4 Cups Granulated Sugar

1tsp Baking Soda

1/4tsp Salt

1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil

1 Cup Boiling water

2Tbsp Chocolate Liqueur (optional, but so good!)

1/2tsp Vanilla

1. Whisk all dry ingredients together in bowl and create well large enough for liquid ingredients to be poured into. Gently, while turning the bowl, fold the dry ingredients into the liquid. Continue to fold until all is incorporated.

2. Fill the bottom of cupcake pan with approx. 1/4 batter. Add a heaping tablespoon of cheese cake filling into the cupcake batter and then cover the rest with more chocolate batter. Do not try to stir the batters together.

3. Bake for 25-28 minutes at 350*F.

4. Let cupcakes cool to room temperature before attempting the chocolate dip. A warm cupcake will lead to runny chocolate and a big mess!

Cheese Cake Filling

4oz Cream Cheese

1/4 Cup Confectioners Sugar (sift after measuring)

1/8tsp salt (two good pinches)

1/2tsp vanilla

1 egg

1. Beat all ingredients together in electric mixer on medium until the cream cheese is smooth. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat for another 40 seconds just to be sure!

Chocolate Ganache Topping

3/4cups Semisweet Chocolate

1/2Cup Unsalted Butter

1/4cup Light Corn Syrup

1. Combine all ingredients in a microwave safe container and slowly bring the chocolate and butter to a liquid state. Stir the ingredients every 15 seconds. You could also do this step in a double boiler, but unless I’m making meringue I would honestly rather use the microwave. Just be sure not to burn the chocolate, hence the stiffing every 15 seconds.

2. Hold cupcake upside down and plunge directly into the chocolate goodness. Pull cupcake straight back up and let it drip for a second; make a twisting motion to scoop the cupcake around and back up right. Set the cupcake down on cooling racks.

3. If the chocolate is too runny try two things (in this order). Let the chocolate cool for about 2 minutes at room temperature and try again. If it is still a dripping mess, add a small handful of chocolate chips to the batch and melt them in, this should add a little more density. However, I have never had a problem with this specific ganache recipe for dipping, so do worry and give it a shot!

Enjoy!

Posted in: Cheese Cake, Chocolate, cream cheese, Cupcake