Black-Bottom Cupcakes

True Fact: Everybody loves a cupcake. Chocolate or vanilla, sprinkles or frosting.... no matter what, you will usually find that everyone is happier with a cupcake. So for my second recipe, I decided to go with a classic recipe that just couldn't lose: Black-Bottom Cupcakes.

The thing I love most about these cupcakes is the cream cheese filling. Its absolutely delicious, and adds a rich flavor and moist texture to an otherwise plain cupcake. This is only amplified by the chocolate chips that are added to the cupcakes- you can never have too much chocolate!

What makes a black-bottom cupcake special is the cream cheese filling, which is added separately to the cupcake batter. To make the filling, I mixed the cream cheese, sugar and a bit of salt in my mixer, then blended in an egg, followed by lots of chocolate chips- yum!

Now came time to mix the chocolate cupcake batter (which was made with a large amount of Hershey's cocoa powder), then I poured it into cupcake tins, 2/3 of the way full.

Then, I dropped the cream cheese mixture by (heaping) spoonful into the cupcake batter- this will cause the batter to rise, which is why you should be careful not to fill the tins more than 2/3 of the way full like I mentioned above! Otherwise, the cupcake batter will run over, or bake to high and you won't get it out of the pan without a struggle.

Now the cupcakes go into the oven!

I always make sure to check if my cupcakes are done with a toothpick before I take them out of the oven. Sorry about the blurry photo, I think someone should know how to take a photograph without glare as much as she knows how to bake... :)

And then you're done! Because of that delicious cream cheese frosting, you don't need decoration or frosting- it is already baked into the cupcakes! And make sure to eat one while it is still warm, because there is nothing like a warm cupcake, with a gooey cream cheese frosting punctuated by melting chocolate.... Mmmm, I might need to bake another batch right now.....