Black Bottom Cupcakes

I'm a messy baker. A very messy baker. Anyone who has baked with me knows this. I think I've met my match.

Sunday, Lil Sis and I were supposed to go fishing. Just the thought of me taking a kid fishing cracks me up. I'm supposed to be the kid in this fishing game. I mean, yes, I can hold my own when I'm fishing with other people. I can bait my own hook. I'm not scared or grossed out to touch the fish. (If you know what I do for a living, you understand it's really really REALLY hard to gross me out). So I thought, "this shouldn't be too big of a deal. I just need to borrow some fishing poles, find a place to fish, and get some bait." Well, the more I thought about it, the more complicated this all became. The poles were covered (a friend very generously let me borrow a couple of his). Getting hooks, sinkers, bait, etc. should be easy. Wal-Mart has all of that. (Right?) There are lots of state parks, rivers, county parks, beaches, etc to fish from here. This is Florida. No shortage of water here. Then I started thinking that I need a fishing license. K- doesn't need one because she's under 16, but I do. They're pretty simple to get online, but simple only goes so far if you're broke till payday next week. Hmm. I was still really looking forward to fishing and spending time with K- but I was afraid she would get bored after awhile, and she has since professed to me her fear of being near bodies of water. Hmm. Kids crack me up. Plus, I'm used to getting on a boat with Dad or Uncle Pete, having all the fishing poles set up for me. All the bait and miscellaneous fishing equipment right there already. I'm not a great fishing-logistics planner. So, alas, it rained on Sunday. All day, actually, and the fishing trip was cancelled. So what did we do instead?

Do you have to ask?

We made a mess of my kitchen. :)

K- called me a few days before our scheduled fishing trip and asked if we could go to my house and bake something after we fished. So baking was on the agenda anyway. She wanted something chocolate, and I found a recipe for Black Bottom Cupcakes on Brown Eyed Baker. Chocolate Cupcakes with Cheesecake inside? Yum.

In my quest to eat a little bit healthier, I decided to lighten these up. I used fat-free cream cheese in place of the full-fat kind. And I replaced the oil with applesauce. My advice? Don't. The cupcakes weren't HORRIBLE, but they were kinda...chewy. They would've been much better with the oil, I think. So just follow what the recipe says.

We made a total disaster of my kitchen, more so than I usually do.  But that's the fun of it, I think.  Anyway, here are some pics of our mess. :) 

Or not.  Because something stupid is going on with my computer and I can't upload them. Sorry.  Just know it was a HUGE mess with flour and cocoa powder and batter EVERYWHERE!  At least you can see the finished product above.  Again, I really recommend just going full-fat if you're going to make these. 

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Black Bottom Cupcakes

from Brown Eyed Baker

Makes 12 cupcakes

Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg, room temp

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar

5 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp cider or white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

1.  Make the filling.  Beat together cream cheese, egg, and sugar until smooth.  Stir in chopped chocolate pieces.  Set aside.

2.  Preheat oven to 350.  Line muffin tin with papers.

3.  In a medium bowl, sift together flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, mix together water, vegetable oil, vinegar, and vanilla.

4.  Make a well in center of dry ingredients and stir in wet ingredients.  Stir just until smooth.  DO NOT OVERMIX. 

5.  Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.  Spoon a few tablespoons of filling into center of each cupcake.  The cups will be completely full. 

6.  Bake 25 minutes, until tops are slightly golden brown and cupcakes feel springy when pressed. 

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Yum!  So even though these are a little chewy, I'm going to go eat one now.  Bye! 

P.S.  I found the most amazing costume for Rocky this year.  There is a doggy costume contest on the 22nd.  Stay tuned for pics.