Chocolatey Cheesecakey Mini Cupcakes

Do you ever just want a small snack?  You know for sure that baking a cake would be too much without a specific occasion, you don't really want to take the time to bake and ice individual cupcakes, but you're tired of your brownies and cookies?  A number of weeks ago I found myself in this situation, perusing through America's Test Kitchen baking book not knowing what I was looking for and or just how much effort and time I wanted to spend in my kitchen that afternoon.  I then stumbled across a recipe for Black Bottom Cupcakes, a combination of chocolate cake and cheesecake which required no icing and could be completed from start to finish in less than an hour!

I decided to make them as mini cupcakes instead of full size ones so they became the perfect bit size treats.  The original recipe also called for mini chocolate chips which I did not use.  Aside from those two small changes I followed the recipe exactly and because of that will not be posting it here.  I will however share some of the pictures I took of the process and a couple of tricks for cupcakes that I learned along the way.

Something about seeing all of the ingredients laid out on the counter together makes me really happy.

This becomes the cheesecake filling and while it doesn't look like much really is quite perfect.

On we go with the chocolate cake aspect

OK, I admit that one of the reasons for mini cupcakes was that I had lots of fun liners to choose from and was all out of regular liners.

In goes the cake batter.

Followed by dollops of cheesecake filling.

And they come out looking absolutely perfect!

I was so proud of myself!

I don't bake cupcakes often or for that matter mini cupcakes so there were a couple of things I found myself looking up or experimenting with along the way.

Tips & Tricks

• To keep cupcake liners as clean as the ones pictured above spray them well with a non-stick spray after you've placed them in your cupcake tin.  Be aware of the force of the spray as some of my liners were shot out of the tin as I sprayed. :)
• To alter any regular cupcake recipe to mini cupcakes keep the baking temperature the same and simply alter the time.  Most sites I found online suggested you begin checking them between 8 and 10 minutes with some recipes taking as long as 12.  Mine were in for closer to 12 minutes but your oven will have a significant say in that.
• With a cupcake like this with a filling in the center you only need to stick a toothpick along the cake edge to make sure they are done.

Now go find a recipe you've been meaning to try and make it small, give them away, enjoy your treat!

Thanks for reading and happy baking!