Chocolate Cheesecake-Filled Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

T onight I have to make this a snappy post because I still have a few things to pack, and I have to get up early tomorrow morning to move. I'll update about our new place as soon as I can. Hopefully we won't have any internet difficulties. That's my worst nightmare.

Friday we signed the lease and moved most of our stuff over, but tomorrow is the actual big moving day. I'm excited!



Anyway, so today was my sister, Kristin's, baby shower. It was a lot of fun, but I had no idea how much work goes into them. Food, cake, punch, decorations, games... My poor mom and sister Rachel. They worked so hard on this shower. All I did was make cupcakes.

Yowza. There's a baby in there.

Hello baby! I can't wait to meet you.

Here's some of the food. We had veggies, fruit, ham roll-up thingies, mints, nuts, punch, and mini quiches. I have to tell you something you don't know about mini quiches.
Okay, okay, so you know how good those things are, right? How many would you eat? Maybe four? Or more? Guess what. There's five grams of fat in one mini quiche. Can you believe that? Those are dangerous! I think maybe we should have written the nutrition facts on a little card and placed it in front of them.


Strawberry punch. No booze. Oh, and white cake... I was informed a few days ago that someone else was bringing a cake, too. Hmm.
You can't have too much cake, right? :)

I ate this. It was a strawberry the size of my fist.

These are my cupcakes on display. I love that rack! I need to invest in one of those.

This is the center of the cupcake. Cheesecake filling. Mmm.

Presents. Lots and lots of presents. It took my sister an hour to open all of them.

These are little gift boxes that my sister Hannah made. She made forty of them and people forgot to take them home when they left.

We played some games. Baby animal guessing, and nursery rhyme games. Then we played this game where you had to guess what kind of melted candy bar was in the diaper. I didn't know this one. Do you? 

 


So that was the shower. I just realized I don't have any pictures of myself, but that's okay. I was the one taking all of the pictures. I don't like having to ask people to take my picture. I guess I need to get over that though.



These cupcakes are basically the devil's food cupcakes, but a little bit improved, I believe. They have a cheesecake filling composed of cream cheese, egg, sugar and graham cracker crumbs. Then they're topped with the same chocolate frosting. VERY rich, very delicious. The ultimate cupcake? I think so. More "Ultimate" news coming later this week.

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Chocolate Cheesecake-Filled Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Chocolate Cake
2 cups cake flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
1 cup buttermilk

Cheesecake Filling
1 (8-ounce package) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

Chocolate Frosting:
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 muffin cups with liners.

To make the chocolate cake, in a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat oil, butter, granulated sugar and vanilla, until creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Beat in melted chocolate chips until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, until well combined, about 2-3 minutes.

To make the cheesecake filling, in a medium bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and granulated sugar until creamy - about 1-2 minutes; beat in egg and vanilla until well combined. Stir in graham cracker crumbs until combined.

Divide 1/3 of the batter into muffin cups. Place a spoonful of cream cheese mixture into the centers; cover with remaining batter. Bake 17-19 minutes, or until just set, and a toothpick inserted into cake comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the frosting, in a small saucepan, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, salt and milk; bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Boil 1 minute or until thickened; remove pan from heat and strain mixture into a small bowl. Cool completely in the refrigerator or freezer.

Beat the butter until creamy, about 1 minute, in a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed. Beat in "chocolate pudding" mixture until well combined, about 1 minute. Beat in melted chocolate until well combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Spread or pipe frosting on to cupcakes.

Makes 24 cupcakes