I bought a TON of cake mixes when they were on sale at the grocery store last month, so now whenever I'm tasked with bringing a dessert to a group function, I wonder what I can make that requires a cake mix in its preparation. For my piano recital this week I decided to make cupcakes, but a fancier-than-usual version. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com; and I topped them with a sour cream chocolate frosting that I adapted from another allrecipes.com recipe. The result was delicious.
Self-filled Cupcakes
1 chocolate or devil's food cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare it (eggs, oil, water)
8 oz cream cheese (1 brick), softened
1/2 c white sugar
1 egg
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
Prepare 24-30 cupcake tins with papers (I did 30); preheat oven as directed on cake mix instructions. Mix up cake mix ingredients according to box directions and set aside. In a smaller bowl, cream the cream cheese with the sugar. Then add egg and blend well. Stir in chocolate chips.
Fill each cupcake tin 1/2 full of chocolate batter, then top with about 1 T of the cream cheese mixture. You should still have some of the chocolate cake mix left; spoon a little bit on top of the cream cheese mixture on each cupcake. Don't stir it around or marble it; just allow the cream cheese mixture to stay in its own little glob.
Bake according to box directions.
They'll look something like this:
I didn't have quite enough chocolate batter to top each cupcake with an additional spoonful but I wish I had. The ones without it (like at the bottom left of the photo above) sunk down in the middle ~ which just had to be compensated for with extra frosting.Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 stick (4 T) butter
1 T cocoa (unsweetened powder)
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 c sour cream
2 T cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
about 4 c powdered sugar
In a medium-large microwave-proof bowl, melt the chocolate chips, butter, cocoa, and salt together. Heat in 15-20 second intervals, stirring in between. It only took about a minute total for my microwave to melt it completely. Allow this mixture to cool for about 15 minutes; then beat in the sour cream, cream, and vanilla. Beat in the powdered sugar about a cup at a time. Add more or less than 4 cups depending on desired thickness.
This frosting has a nice tang to it due to the sour cream, and it's just the right amount of chocolatey-ness. It was plenty for frosting my 30 cupcakes. This frosting would also be great on a sheet cake or brownies.
Each cupcake had a moist, yummy surprise with the cream cheese and chocolate chips inside! I will definitely make these again sometime.
Next time, I'll be better prepared with some pretty cupcake baking papers. Like these. Are those the cutest or what!
1 comment:
We call that recipe "cupcake surprise" - but I actually never frost them. I think they're great without frosting. Not as pretty, but just as yummy (and definitely less sugar/fat).
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