"N" is for Neapolitan Black Bottom Cupcake

I've been wanting to make something "neapolitan" for a while because I love the combination of brown, white and pink. The colours compliment each other so well and are just plain pretty! So I decided to try a black bottom cupcake, which is a chocolate cupcake with a cream cheese centre. How delicious does THAT sound! And in preparation for a cupcake I'm making next week, I wanted to try this 7-minute frosting with added raspberry puree for colour and flavour. While the actual chocolate part of the cupcake was a bit sub-par for my liking, the combination of chocolate and cream cheese was magical to say the least and the frosting was just amazing. I had some leftovers and put a huge dollop of it on a big bowl of fresh berries (that I got on sale to boot!). What a perfect treat!

This recipe has 3 parts:
1. The cream cheese filling
2. The chocolate cupcake
3. The 7-minute raspberry frosting

Part 1: The Cream Cheese Filling
My mom has requested these beauties for Mother's day, so I'm going to experiment with swirling the cream cheese mixture right into the chocolate cupcake batter instead of adding it as a big drop into the batter once it's in the cupcake liner.

Cream Cheese filling
For 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese, regular or low-fat
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 oz semisweet mini chocolate chips

Method
1. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.
2. Stir in the chocolate chips. Set aside.

Part 2: The Chocolate Cupcake
This recipe, including the cream cheese filling comes from the HTEAC website which came from The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz. I'm going to use a different chocolate base the next time that I try these. I'm no baking expert, but I have been baking a lot of cupcakes lately and I'm just thrown off by the fact that this recipe doesn't have any eggs or milk in it. The flavour was definitely lacking in this recipe. It kind of reminds me of the vegan chocolate cupcakes I made...kinda gummy and dry and flavourless. I think I'll use my stand-by chocolate cupcake recipe, Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake Recipe as used in the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake recipe.

Chocolate Cupcake
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp white or cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate bowl mix together the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla.
4. Make a well in the centre 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.
5. Divide the batter amond the cupcakes liners. Spoon a few tablespoons of the cream cheese filling into the centre of each cupcake, dividing the filling evenly. This will fill the cups almost completely, which is fine.
6. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown and the cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed.


Part 3: The 7-Minute Raspberry Frosting
Simply put...this frosting is AH-MAY-ZING!

Seven Minute Frosting
Enough to generously top 12 cupcakes with a little extra left over

Ingredients
1.25 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
3 large egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
~4 tbsps raspberry puree (raspberries pushed through a sieve to discard the seeds)

Method
1. Put the sugar, water, egg whites and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler with at least a 2 quart capacity and beat with a handheld mixer on high speed until opaque, white, and foamy, about 1 minute.
2. Put the bowl over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmer water (or the bottom of the double boiler). The top container should sit firmly over the pan of hot water; be sure to keep the cord of the electric mixer away from the burner.
3. Beat on high speed until the frosting forms a soft peak that stands straight up if you stop the beaters and lift them up, about 7 minutes. The frosting should register 160F on a thermometer.
4. Remove the container of frosting from the water, add the raspberry puree and continue beating for 2 minutes, to further thicken the frosting.

Final Assembly
Pipe at least 1/2 cup of frosting onto each cupcake. Don't be afraid to pile it high. You can also use a thin metal spatula to spread a thick layer of frosting over the top of each cupcake, dipping the spatula gently into the frosting to make swirls. If you have any left over frosting, put a huge dollop on top of a huge bowl of fresh berries! It's just like whipped cream, but better for you :)

"B" is for BACON Cupcake

Ohhhhh....the BACON cupcake! How I love thee!

Who out there loves bacon???

Who out there loves chocolate???

Everyone, right!? So why not combine them together! Now I must admit that I do get quite a lot of funny faces when I mention the words 'bacon' and 'cupcake' in the same sentence and I have gotten a mixed bag of reactions to these cupcakes, but I still think they're great and I will defend them forever and ever.

It is safe to say that you either love 'em or hate 'em. My sister and her boyfriend hated them and thought they were the most disgusting thing they'd ever tasted (harsh...). Evan, the bacon lover himself, did not really enjoy them, or maybe it was just the frosting that threw him off. However, me, Sara and Dao loved them and thought they had a really unique, delicious flavour, they were the only cupcakes at Cupcake Camp to get a cheer from the crowd and they were mentioned on CKCU radio as the BEST cupcakes at Cupcake Camp. One of the bartenders at work proposed to me after eating one, the other bartender ran to the restaurant when he wasn't even working just to eat one, and I've been given the nickname "bacon cakes" by one of the cooks. So...I think it's a matter of personal taste and what you're willing to try!

The first time I made these I used a beautiful, luscious, swirly frosting on top, but it didn't really taste good, so the next time I tried a new recipe and it didn't LOOK as good. Now I just need to find something in between. I'm still working on it!

This recipe has 2 parts:
1. The Dark Chocolate Bacon Cupcake

2. The Salted Caramel Frosting

Part 1: The Dark Chocolate Bacon Cupcake

When I wanted to make a Bacon cupcake, I searched all over to find just the perfect combination of flavours. There were a lot of recipes to choose from as there is, apparently, a huge bacon-in-dessert following out there! My favorite that I found was on the Noone Puts Cupcake in a Corner blog. A perfect blend of salty and sweet!

Dark Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes

Makes 24 Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup cold brewed coffee

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

12-20 slices of bacon (gooooood smokey bacon)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Chop and then fry bacon until crispy, drain and cool. Or fry and then crumble, as I did. 3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the eggs, coffee, buttermilk, and oil. Mix until smooth, batter will be thin. Gently mix in the the bacon.
4. Fill cupcake liners to half full.
5. Reduce oven to 350F degrees. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Part 2: The Salted Caramel Frosting
The Salted Caramel Frosting is the same as the frosting that I used for the Caramel Apple Crumble Cupcake, but I used salted butter instead of regular butter to make the caramel. The recipe can be found here.

Final Assembly

Pipe the Salted Caramel Frosting onto the Bacon cupcakes and sprinkle with Turbinado Sugar and Course Sea Salt.

"C" is also for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake

I've already made quite a few different kinds of cupcakes prior to starting this blog. I've posted some pictures on Facebook and have gathered quite a collection of positive comments and buckets of drool! Thanks guys! I have had some requests for recipes so I'm going to start going back and posting the recipes for those cupcakes.

The first one is for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake, as requested by Sara and Ange-Tina. I first made these a few weekends ago for a birthday party. Of course, after making them and taking pictures, I had to try the cupcake to see if it was good or not! Since I cut the cupcake in half to take a picture of the delicious hidden centre, I ate just one half first. It was so rich and delicious that I had to save the other half for later. So I ate the other half while getting ready to go to the party and called it dinner! Yum! At the party the cupcakes sat on the table with everyone glancing over at them for half the night. I guess everyone was waiting for it to be 'dessert time'? and no one wanted to be the first to dig in. Also, no one knew what kind they were. So finally someone took the first cupcake and needless to say, within 10 minutes they were nearly all gone! We all worked off our sugar highs by playing Wii Bowling!

So here is the recipe for quite possibly my favourite cupcake so far! Wait...I take that back...my favourite Chocolate-based cupcake so far! (Like I've said before, I'm indecisive!)

If you're looking for a quick and easy cupcake to make, then skip over this one! There are many parts to this creation!

There are 4 parts to this recipe:
1. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough - You can use store bought cookie dough, but this recipe is really easy to make and probably tastes way better then anything you'll find in the frozen aisle.
2. The Chocolate Cupcake - You can use any chocolate cupcake batter recipe. I've tried a few different recipes and I've found that the Martha Stewart recipe is really rich and tasty and easy!
3. The Egg-less Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough - This cookie dough is incorporated into the frosting, which is obviously not cooked, so it's safe to eat.
4. The Frosting (that includes the egg-less cookie dough)

Part 1: The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
I found this recipe on The Cupcake Review blog, which led me another blog, etc. etc. It is for "The Chewy" by Alton Brown. I baked a few of the cookies while I was at it, and they were really tasty!

"The Chewy" by Alton Brown
Makes 2.5 Dozen

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

- Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat.
- Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
- Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Chill the dough.

- Form the dough into balls using about a tablespoon of dough. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for about 1 hour.

If you want to make the actual cookies themselves follow these instructions:
- Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

- Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet.

- Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Part 2: The Chocolate Cupcake
I used Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake recipe, although any chocolate recipe can be used.

Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 18-24 cupcakes (I always half the recipe and get a perfect dozen)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons safflower oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.

- Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes.

- Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.

- Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

- At this point add 1 ball of frozen cookie dough to each cupcake. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed.
- Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

**Note: If you don't have buttermilk, or don't want to buy an entire 1 litre container of it (because seriously, what would you do with the rest!) you can make buttermilk by combining 1 cup of milk and 1 tbsp of white vinegar, stirring it and letting it sit for 10 minutes. Make sure to stir it again before you use it because it will be a little clumpy.

Part 3: The Egg-less Cookie Dough

Okay. So now you have your cupcakes cooling and it's time to make the frosting. I found this recipe on the Lovin' from the Oven blog. I never said this recipe would be easy and it sure wasn't easy to find exactly what I wanted to make! I spent a lot of time googling...!

Eggless Cookie Dough

Makes enough for 1 batch of frosting (which is enough for 12 cupcakes...so if you made 2 dozen cupcakes double this recipe and the frosting recipe as well)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup brown sugar, plus 2 tablespoons

2 teaspoons water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

a bit of milk (I added this ingredient myself because I found the dough to be a bit too crumbly. Add about 1 tsp of milk at the end just to make it more dough-y. You can add more if you don't like the consistency.)

Method:

- Cream the butter and brown sugar in a small bowl. Add water and vanilla and mix well.

- Add flour and salt and stir to combine.

- Stir in mini chocolate chips.

**Note: I'm not sure how easy or hard it is to find mini chocolate chips, but you can use regular chocolate chips and just chop them up. I initially tried doing this by hand and was extremely frustrated when it came time to pipe the frosting. I would recommend just blending the chocolate chips in a food processor until they're fairly small pieces but not powdery.

Part 4: The Frosting

The frosting is essentially a basic buttercream with cookie dough added in as the flavouring. When you make the buttercream it will look like you won't have enough to even frost 6 cupcakes, but remember, you'll be adding a whole batch of cookie dough to the mix! I also found this recipe on the Lovin' from the Oven blog.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Buttercream

Makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes (if you made 2 dozen cupcakes double this recipe)

Ingredients:

1-3/4 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk

Eggless cookie dough

Method:

- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine 1-1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, unsalted butter, salt, and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary.

- Add milk and continue mixing until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary.

- With the mixer running, slowly add remaining 1/2 cup confectioners sugar, mix until well combined.

- At this point you can mix in the eggless cookie dough. Mix in enough cookie dough to suit your taste.

**Note: I added almost all of the cookie dough, for flavour purposes, but then found that the frosting was too thick to pipe. If this happens you can add a little splash of milk to thin it out a bit. But remember to mix the frosting with an electric mixer again or your frosting will be grainy looking.

***Note 2: Any cookie dough left over you can gladly eat! There are no eggs in it so it is safe. Yum!

FINAL ASSEMBLY

Now that you have your cupcakes and your frosting ready, it's time to frost the cupcakes. If you want to get that fancy, pro-looking swirl then use the fitted into a piping bag! It's super easy! This is the part that has caused me frustrations every time, without fail. Chunks of chocolate chips get stuck in this tip very easily and ruin the whole swirly effect because all the frosting gets backed up. So, either make sure your choco chips are small enough to begin with, and if they're not then you can use a hand blender to mix up the frosting to crush up the chips some more. This also blends the chips into the frosting and makes it taste a whole lot more chocolatey! YUM YUM YUM!

Introducing THE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH CUPCAKE!!

Take a look INSIDE this beauty! I think this is pure perfection right here!