black-bottom cupcakes
I’ve always thought one of the best lines in Pulp Fiction is wedged almost unnoticeably early on. Fabienne tells Butch that she wants a pot belly because she thinks they’re sexy on women (though, kind of hilarious, she thinks they make men look oafish). Butch disagrees, tells her she should be happy she doesn’t have one because guys don’t find it attractive. She snips back that she doesn’t give a damn what men like, before musing somewhat sadly that “It’s unfortunate what we find pleasing to the touch and pleasing to the eye is seldom the same.”
And I have to admit, if you swapped “touch” with “taste,” you’d have exactly what was going through my head this weekend as I made a quickie batch of David Lebovitz’s famed Black-Bottom Cupcakes from his Great Book of Chocolate. A spin on the classic devil’s food cake, each cupcake gets a dollop of cheesecake filling which is decked out with chopped bits of bittersweet chocolate before it’s baked into something almost too delicious for words. Since they lack frosting, they’re superbly easy to schlep from one place to another, and should you have time to zap them in the fridge, I think they’re a rare cupcake that actually tastes better cold. And seriously, chocolate and cheesecake? It is beyond my comprehension how everyone does not dream about this flavor contrast. I know we here in the SmitKitch certainly do.
But, and I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, my inner perfectionist hated them as I was completely unable to get them to look like the peanut butter cup-reminiscent photo. My dollops, they wouldn’t center. My cupcakes, they kept overflowing in the oven. In my attempt to make them into miniature cakes, my first eight had too much filling, and my last eight had none. My baking karma was stunningly off on Friday night, it seemed and I had a asterisked storm cloud over my head all the way until the opening credits of Knocked Up, which if you seriously don’t die laughing from the chairs-in-Vegas scene alone, I just don’t know if we can be friends anymore.
When we got home, my sides hurting from aforementioned cracking up, the ridiculousness of being in a funk because my cupcakes didn’t come out the way I’d hoped had been squarely put in its place. Silly Deb, don’t you know that it only matters that it tastes good? Of course, of course, I muttered, because they were crazy delicious. And I almost sold myself on it, I did. But next time, I still might try a piping bag to get that damned dollop centered.
Black-Bottom Cupcakes
The Great Book of Chocolate, David Lebovitz
Yield: 12 full-size or approximately 30 mini cupcakes
For the filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, regular or reduced fat, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup unflavored vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Make the filling: Beat together the cream cheese, granulated sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in the chopped chocolate pieces. Set aside.
Make the cupcakes:
1. Adjust the rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 12-cup muffin tin, or line the tin with paper muffin cups.
2. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring until just smooth. Stir any longer and you will over mix the batter and end up with less-than-tender cupcakes.
4. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Spoon a few tablespoons* of the filling into the center of each cupcake, dividing the filling evenly. This will fill the cups almost completely,** which is fine.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown and the cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed. These moist treats will keep well unrefrigerated for 2 to 3 days if stored in an airtight container.
Two notes:
* If you choose to go mini for these, keep the filling at a tablespoon or less, lest you run out, as, ahem, someone else may have.
** Though I’ve only made this recipe one, and therefore don’t think you should take my input as absolute authority, I’ve got to advise against actually letting these guys fill up. Not an issue if you’re going full-size, but if you go mini, aim for 90 percent full.
I just wanted to let you know I’ve been lurking for months, cooking much of what you post, and finding a new hobby in the meantime. This last weekend, I cooked the brussels sprouts in caper butter and a risotto loosely based on one of yours for my new in-laws, and now they all think I’m a rock star in the kitchen. Thanks.
Delicious!! Both the Pulp Fiction reference, which I too recall and found interesting, and this SO luxurious reciped.
Thanks! :)
Ugh, meant recipe.
I think they look great - so great I might just have to make some the next time I’m supposed to take dessert somewhere. (I suspect I would eat them all if they didn’t have someplace to go!) - Cheers!
Me? I think they’re really pretty. Just like that.
You can make these for me in a few weeks if you want.
heh.
I had exactly that problem with the black-bottom brownie bites from Nancy Baggett’s book — I overfilled them drastically, which resulted in an unpleasant sunken look. Delicious, but not at all impressive. Will try this recipe this week and report back. Thanks.
I make a non-fat version of these (I know, I know…silly concept but a necessity with my baking addiction). I do use a piping bag to get the filling in the center and I add a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips to the top of the filling that get all lovely gooey once baked. Highly addictive. :)
I grew up next to this bakery that always had black-bottoms, they never looked perfect but had crooked overflows of white on black, much like yours. I liked it this way best, so I could pick out the ones that had the most cheesecake, of course. Try a piping bag for the boring old perfect look :-)
silly deb! perfection is for crazy people. and i agree with shuna up there, you can make those puppies for me any time.
Blackbottoms are a family tradition for me. My mom has been making dozens for holidays and special occasions since the early 1980s! I like them in the mini size, the regular size is a bit much. I also like to to use mini chips instead of broken up chocolate for more even distribution or else we’d all be picking the ones with the most chips!
When I was a kid, the deli near my school made these, and actually called them “Ugly Muffins”. They’re not supposed to look perfect! But they sure do taste good.
I just made these the other day for a friend’s bday! I had the opposite problem though…my cheesecake filling kept sinking to the bottom and I was left with little to no indication of the yumminess that was within. Mine were the full-sized though. I wonder what the trick is? David’s look so perfect, of course! I suppose I need to make another batch…you know, in the name of practice’s sake
Those look scrumptious! If you are really THAT much of a perfectionist that it bothers you to have non-perfect cupcakes around, feel free to send them to me!
Much like Rachel above, I have been making black bottoms for many, many years. Having made both regular and mini cupcakes, I have to put my two cents in….mini always seem to come out better. Deb, I have been lurking for a few months and I really enjoy your recipes!
I haven’t made these in years! Thanks for the yummy reminder!
I like these just the way they are — who needs a centered dollop, anyway?!
YUM!!!
I just love Blackbottom cupcakes…..I could eat ‘em until I burst. Who cares if the cream cheese is centered? Overflow?? Sheesh. Too small? Meh.
Enjoyment is the key word; take yourself too seriously and you forget why you cook in the first place. It’s to enjoy. Perfection on earth is impossible.
Once again I get to make everyone jealous because I had two of these delectable mini-treats at a party on Saturday night!
I have an idea; I think chilled filling would stay put better. Chill the filling, scoop it out with a melon baller and just drop it into the well. Or, pipe it warm into long ropes on cookie sheet, chill, and cut off the amount you need. Maybe it if is a tubular piece that will help.
They look absolutely delicious! Cheesecake bites, how divine. mmmmmmmmm
They look lovely, those little cakelets! And Knocked Up? Absolutely made my Sunday night, especially the chairs-in-Vegas scene, though, really, there were too many funny moments to count. Nice to see you on Saturday!
Deb - did you know Fitness magazine gave you a shout out? Maybe you’ve already mentioned it here, and I didn’t see it. But anyhoo, I was reading it Sunday morning and came across a little blurb about how much your blog rocks the universe.
Oh, my, Deb! What’s not to like about these? As far as the aesthetics, you have to look on the bright side. If no one eats them because they’re not “pretty,” that just means more for you! (Although, they look fine to me.)
They look delicious, but what screamed out at me the most in this post is your love of the chair scene in Knocked Up. “There are five chairs in this room. Five chairs!” “I’m high. I’m so high on this chair. I need to sit in this other one.” Paul Rudd at his most hilarious. That movie was fabulous.
Whenever my grandfather would go to a potluck he would always pick the ugliest desert. When I asked him why he said it was because you knew that one had to be homemade, and would be better than the pretty ones because they were most likely purchased.
That is what your story reminds me of. So I probably would have picked these if you brought them to a pot luck. YUM!
I grew up on a recipe very similar to this. They were always the family favorite. And I agree, they are better cold. Thanks for the reminder of these wonderful treats!!
What a great idea for a make ahead summer potluck dessert! I’ve never heard of the recipe before, but I want to try it now. Thanks!
Jocelyn, you should share! Deb, how did you get Alex to go to “Knocked Up” with you???? B refuses and says that I’m more than welcome to watch it in North Carolina. (I’m not commenting on the cupcakes because I REALLY want one!)
It was actually Alex’s idea to see it. It’s poop humor, what’s not to love?
I made black bottom cupcakes a couple of years ago and they looked exactly like yours. I just pretended this is how they’re SUPPOSED to look.
I went to a bakery recently and these cupcakes were on sale there under the name ‘Stephanie’. I searched all over the internet for the Stephanies recipe but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Since it’s my name, I thought it was really cute.
I have been promised by a certain man in my life that if I make these tonight, I will definitely be getting lucky. Also, loved the movie - however, I think my favorite scene was them running through the drug store, buying every single pregnancy test they could and then going home and peeing on every one of them. :-)
What’s the difference between Dutch process cocoa and natural cocoa?
I can’t get the filling neatly centered too! But like you said, they are “crazy delicious”!
Jessica– From JoyofBaking.com: “Dutch-Processed or Alkalized Unsweetened Cocoa Powder is treated with an alkali to neutralize its acids. Because it is neutral and does not react with baking soda, it must be used in recipes calling for baking powder, unless there are other acidic ingredients in sufficient quantities used… Its delicate flavor makes it ideal in baked goods like European cakes and pastries where its subtle flavor complements other ingredients. Droste, Lindt, Valrhona, Poulain and Pernigotti are some popular brands.â€
Basically, because Dutch-process will nullify baking soda, you’ve got to use the other stuff here. However, if you only have Dutch-process (and really, I think the quality is far superior), there is an exchange for baking powder/baking soda that escapes me right now, but should be Google-able. I’ve used it before with success.
Christine—
Dutch process cocoa has been treated with alkaline which makes it both more acidic and thus darker. Dutch process cocoa reacts in conjunction with chemical leaveners like baking powder and baking soda, making things rise. Natural cocoa, like Scharffen Berger brand (& I think Hershey’s??) has not been treated and so your baked goods will need a lot more push and finesse to rise within the same recipe/called for amounts.
Although a product like Valrhona cocoa is a big investment, when cocoa powder is this good you can get away with less of it.
I’m not so savvy that I can figure out how to get a link into my comment here, but I wrote a lot about cocoa when I explained how Devil’s Food Cake works– look for the recipe on my site, eggbeater, if you wish to know more.
Shuna — I see this post on KQED, I hope it’s the right one. Thanks for chiming in.
http://www.kqed.org/weblog/food/2007/04/devils-food-cake.jsp
Goodness me, these look like they could satisfy even the fiercest chocolate craving. Well done!
I thank you so much- I had forgotten about this recipe- my best friend gave it to me 35 years ago- the only difference is that it called for German Sweet chocolate and was printed on the wrapper for awhile. I am headed in to make a batch so I can eat them before anyone gets home!
So, my second pan just came out of the oven. Yum. I agree - I think that these are better cold (and since it is about 90 outside my door, this is perfect). Also, I used the piping bag to put on the cream cheese and it worked much better. In fact, if you make your filling a half hour or hour in advance and refrigerate it, then pipe it out, it works wonderfully! No ugly cupcakes here…
hey, Deb, they are cute as they are, just enjoy them in all their imperfection, or send them my way, whichever suits you the best.
By the way, I sent you an email a couple of days ago, and so did Lis, I´m not sure if you are getting them at all. Please let me know.
I love black bottom cupcakes, and since I’m awful at making food look good, they’re perfect for me. : ) I, too, love a potbelly on a woman - just a little one. My best friend in high school had one and it drove her crazy since she was otherwise skinny, but I thought it looked so cute and was secretly a little jealous.
Oh Deb, we must have been separated at birth. I made a Carmel cheesecake this weekend for a party. Even though the group finished it off in record time, some even bowing to my culinary genius all I could think about it how it looked. The slices sunk a little at the ends. You think maybe I should see Knocked Up, could that be the cure?
I. LOVE. THESE. My grandmother used to always have these in the freezer for when we came to visit. To this day, I love them icy cold. Good memories.
Another thing. When I made my grandmother’s recipe the first time, I had the same problem with the cheese spreading across the top. As I recall, the next time I stuck the filling in the fridge for a while to stiffen it up, then really pushed the hardened filling down deep into the batter. That seemed to help.
You’re totally right about the looks versus taste thing. I once made drop biscuits for somebody’s kid I was taking care of for the evening. He was totally suspicious of these ugly looking lumps. Until he reluctantly consented to taste one. I was lucky to get even one for myself.
Thank you so much for this recipe! You couldn’t have had better timing, seriously. I’ve been wanting to make cupcakes like this for my graduation party this weekend but wasn’t finding the “right” recipe. Now, here it is. Thanks again.
I’ve dabbled my hands in making these black bottom cupcakes for so many times and for so many occasions now and using many recipes variation, and no matter what I still find that it’s easy and quick to make, and pleases almost everybody. My first couple of attempts didnt turned out as presentable as I had wanted them to be, but I’d like to think I’ve quite mastered the consistency and the amount required already to make a nice cute cupcake. What I’d normally do to make it look more ‘nicer’ is to place a teaspoon dollop of cream cheese in the middle and top it off with another teaspoon dollop of cupcake mixture on top. So far, it had never failed me. :D
they look so delicious!!!
I make these often and let me warn you, if you happen to run out of flour in the middle of the recipe, DO NOT SUBSTITUTE WHOLE WHEAT no matter how tempted you are. They will only end up in the garbage.
chilling the cheesecake part helps, or just start with cold cream cheese. i use one of those tiny ice cream scoops to plop it in the batter.
My grandmother makes them all the time and one day was feeling lazy and made them in a 9×9 pan and it was the best cake EVER. she also sprinkles them with a mixture of chopped walnuts and a bit of sugar, adds a nice crunch.
I took beat myself up when thing don’t look as pretty as they taste. But these look pretty darn good to me.
These were awesome. I enjoyed many of them on Saturday night. And they went really well with karaoke.
Felt pulled back here this morning, and I’m so glad I did, I straight away made the cupcakes, and am delighted with them, as is the family, they may be blobby and irregular, but we are too, and they taste heavenly anyway. I have blogged the event.
Thank you once again.
E
xx
I made these tonight and they looked just like yours, which I think is fine! They were tasty. I ate one warm and found it a bit cheesy but I think they will be awesome at room temp. or chilled. Also, I used regular old cocoa powder [ie, with added alkaline] and they still turned out swell.
when you come to Paris, I’ll show you how to get those little buddies lookin’ just right…
(But you’ll need to bring the Philadelphia!)
All I can say about this post, your blog (and apparrently. Paul Rudd’s fist) is “It tastes like rainbows”.
amazing. did the minis. did the piping bag. all the notes and tips really helped. they’re great. and I don’t even like cake usually or cup cakes. so good. it’s a keeper. and, just want to note….relatively easy recipe. –long time lurker, first post
Dear Deb,
I drop by here from time to time, but must admit that I’m not a cooking/baking enthusiast (despite naming my blog after a twist on my favorite treat) - I come here for the little stories and the pictures. HOWEVER….when I saw this recipe I was indeed ’smitten’ - with the need to bake these. My mom used to make them when I was little and they were so delectable! Here in Santa Barbara, there is an upscale deli/bakery/cafe called Pierre Lafond that sells larger versions of them called “farm cakes” and they sell out every day.
So it is with a pretty proud smile that I say I got my Aktins/diet/spinning crazed assistant and her little girl and made a big bunch of these, plus classic chocolate chip cookies and a simple chocolate cake today. Despite our lack of many ‘proper’ utensils, they turned out great - we made mini and regular and they were both beautiful. And more important, DELICIOUS.
From a non-baker and a mom who had never, in 8 years, made her kids homemade baked goods, two estatic kids, five of their friends, and half a neighborhood - (we even passed the recipe on to one of their moms who could not believe they were home made)
A big, chocolatey, cream-cheesy, tender THANK YOU.
hi there!
loved the idea of piping them, so i tried it. and yes, they were beautiful.
but i must admit… the ‘ugly’ ones tasted SOoooo much better!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saintalia/560970125/
thanks for the amazing recipes!
shara
Hey!
I’ve made three of your recipes, three nights in a row :D I finally got my hands on an oven again after about 6 months of dying to cook and bake again.
First recipe I made was one based on the blondie recipe - it was good, I added banana, instant coffee and walnuts, and they weren’t too sweet, and almost cakelike due to the banana. The coffee was nowhere to be tasted (and I put a good 1.5 tablespoons in at least!) but they were good anyway and they disappeared in less than a day.
Those classic brownies from CI were up last night. I substituted and substituted, and ended up making something that had the faintest likeness to the CI recipe. I ended making these two layered things, where the top half was crunchy and almost cookie-like, and the bottom layer, no matter how long I cooked it, refused to set. I stuck it in the freezer overnight hoping it would turn into some caramel-fudgey layer and it did! :D Everyone loves them (maybe due to the contrasting nature of the two layers) and they’re well and truly disappearing. More slowly than the banana nut blondies, but that’s because they’re a lot sweeter, and more than a couple of bites sure makes you feel a tad sick.
This recipe here was the one I baked tonight. I mostly stuck to the recipe, though I ran out of brown sugar and substituted some white instead… and I turned it from cupcakes into a slice cake (9×13 pan). A nice layer of chocolate, then a layer of cream cheese, then another thin layer of chocolate. They’re soft and spongey (and I don’t usually bake cakes because I don’t like them at all and find that slices disappear more rapidly), and they’ve got a great taste. They don’t seem to be sweet at all, and the vinegar gives it almost a sharpness of which the cream cheese nicely takes the edge off. A good third of it is gone and I took it out of the oven not an hour ago.
All in all, a great three nights baking. I’m off to search for more recipes, after spending way too much time on food blogs. I may as well make use of the kitchen facilities while I have them (only two more weeks :( ) Many many thanks for the hours of salivating and cooking craving, and while I’m sure my baked goods were nowhere what they were supposed to be, they were good =) A little bit of improv can work wonders sometimes (I’ve been baking solo since I was 9, I’m 18 now).
Time to wrap this long post up. All I can say is a great big thank you, and keep the cooking up!
The chocolate part of the recipe is almost identical to the Moosewood Six-Minute Chocolate Cake recipe. The Moosewood recipe uses cold coffee instead of water, which adds a great flavor. I agree that the cupcake tastes better chilled–it’s fudgier.
thought of your stamps yesterday while watching martha….”…I’m the beech stamp because I’m the beech of the company [because the beech is the mother tree]. Not the bitch, the BEECH….” it was quite cute. I martha.
ope, I meant to post that above at the blog with the reference to your stamps. must…get…coffee….
this was on my delicious bookmarks for ages and i finally have an excuse to make em next week! one question - do i have to use natural cocoa? (cause i only have varlhona here right now) or is it something to do with the vinegar’s acidity and blah so i have to use natural? thanks in advance :)
I made these and they came out really great. I found that if i beat the eggs 1st and then took out a small amount of the egg, i got better results and the filling sunk perfectly. I also olny used a spoon full of the filing per cupcake, It said to use all of it but i only made 1/2 the recomended amount of filling to each full amount of cupcak mix and even with that i had extra.
Deb
As you know by now, I made these little devils and they were phenomenal. I’m so glad I remembered seeing your hilarious post here previously. Not only did you provide the recipe, but your entertained as well. And for the record, my cupcakes shared the same genetically predisposed disposition and could pass as members of your family…………LOL
Mark
Although these are truly delicious as they are (messy liquidy filling, white tops and all) i can safely say i found a great tweak to make them look even better:
i only use half a package of creamcheese and an eggyolk instead of a whole egg. i also add a tablespoon of flour. i mix it well with a fork until all the lumps are gone and stick it in the fridge while i make the cake batter.
i add an additional half cup of boiling water to the batter to make it a little lighter. it helps when you put those creamcheese dollops in the center and they just sink in perfectly!
I can feel my arteries clogging already…but these cupcakes are so worth it!!!!! Thank you!