We love baking at our house, and it is awesome exploring all of the different, chocolate-based recipes with our single origin chocolates!  What’s better than some yummy, Black Bottom love?  We made these delicious cupcakes over the weekend using our El Carmen dark chocolate and freshly ground cocoa powder.  Our son helped by unwrapping our chocolate bars and then oversaw mom chop them into little, bitty bite-sized bits.  After we mixed the batter and put the cupcakes in the oven to bake, our daughter waited for the timer to go off and was the first taste tester!

See the recipe below, and treat yourself to something sweet!

Our Black Bottom Cupcakes

– 1 package of cream cheese (8oz.), softened

– 1 egg, at room temperature

– 1/2 cup sugar

– 1/8 tsp. salt

– 1 cup of mini, dark chocolate chips (or 4 big bars of El Carmen chocolate chopped very small)

– 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

– 1 cup sugar

– 1/2 cup unsweetend cocoa powder (Goodnow Farms Cocoa Powder coming soon!)

– 1 tsp. baking soda

– 1/2 tsp. salt

– 1 cup water

– 1/3 cup vegetable oil

– 1 Tb. cider vinegar

– 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Place cupcake liners in cupcake tins and set aside.

In medium bowl combine cream cheese, egg, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/8 tsp. salt and beat until light, fluffy and just barely smooth (do not over beat).  Stir in dark chocolate chips and set aside.

In separate large bowl mix together flour, 1 cup sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and 1/2 tsp. salt.  Make a well in the center of the dry mixture, add remaining ingredients of water, vegetable oil, vinegar and vanilla, and stir until well blended.

Fill cupcake lined tins with 1/3 chocolate batter and top with a dollop (heaping spoonful) of cream cheese mixture.

Bake in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes.  Black Bottoms taste great right out of the oven… but they taste even better the next day after being stored in the refrigerator!!!