All you need are a handful of ingredients, and you will have these Black Bottom Cupcakes in no time. Chocolatey and fudgy cupcake bottoms with a cream cheese filling, these cupcakes are a delightful treat!
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the egg and salt. Beat until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
For the Cake Bottoms:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
In a small bowl, whisk together the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Add the water mixture to the flour mixture, stirring until well combined and smooth. Divide the chocolate batter evenly among the paper liners. (They shouldn’t be completely full.) Spoon the cream cheese mixture onto the center of the chocolate batter in each liner.
Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the chocolate cake comes out clean and the cream cheese filling is set. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack. The cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
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Notes
Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake that will yield dry and dense cupcakes. The best and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one, then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
The egg should be at room temperature to ensure it incorporates into your batter evenly. If you forgot to take your egg out of the fridge ahead of time, you could quickly bring it to room temperature by placing it in a large bowl and covering it with warm tap water for 5 minutes.
Avoid overmixing as you risk over-developing the gluten in the batter leading to tough cupcakes.
Don’t skip sifting the dry ingredients. Doing so will remove any clumps and aerates the ingredients to yield lighter cupcakes.
Use paper liners as the cupcakes will stick to the muffin pan if you add the batter directly to the pan.