Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Cookie Crust, Cheesecake Filling, and Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Wow. Those are really pretty. Now check out the inside:

Cheesecake! Cheesecake baked into a cupcake? Do you know what this means?

That I'm going to bake cheesecake into every cupcake? Well, no. I mean, I could. But what it really means is that it works, and when I started on these cupcakes I wasn't sure that it would. I'll explain in a sec, but I need to talk about something else first.

This is Odile.

Well, that was Odile, and sometimes when I think of her, it still is Odile. You might see her more like this:

Or this:

Odile is my niece, and I just love her. These cupcakes were her birthday cupcakes. I am a very lucky Auntie, because my oldest niece is sweet and smart and kind and beautiful and she loves food, which makes her a kindred spirit, in my book. She got to spend her birthday in San Francisco with her mother, her Aunt Kory, and her Nana, and while I am terrifically jealous, I do hope she enjoyed her cupcakes. 

In the spirit of fairness, I do have two other wonderful nieces, but one is not particularly into chocolate (hi, Lily!) and the other's mama probably wouldn't let me feed her such a thing anyway (hi, Savannah!). And I love them both as well.

Okay, okay. On to the cupcake. But just look at that face! Isn't your day better now? I know mine is. Carrying on...

This is going to seem like a complicated cupcake (oh, don't they all?) and while, sure, there are a few steps and it may take awhile, you can do them over a few days so you don't have to kill yourself to get them done. I promise that it will be worth it. I do recommend that you use the very best ingredients you can, because that's going to affect the final cupcake. I used Ghirardelli chocolate, solid and cocoa, and really good coffee (Nevada Black, whee!) because I wanted to make these as delicious as I could. 

Let's start out with the crust - I decided on this because I wanted to do the cheesecake and I was hoping to mimic a cheesecake crust. What I did, though, is used some chocolate cookie dough that I already had rolled up and chilling in the fridge - Dorie Greenspan's World Peace chocolate cookie dough, and if you haven't tried it I seriously recommend that you do, tout suite. Half of a recipe was enough to line the bottom of 24 cupcakes, and them you have a whole 'nother roll of chocolate cookie dough that you can slice and bake and gloat over! You can find the recipe here: World Peace Cookies

So, get your oven preheated to 350 degrees, then line 24 muffin tin cups with cupcake liners. Put about a tablespoon's worth of cookie dough into each cup, then press it out to completely cover the bottom. The dough is crumbly, so this won't be too hard. 

Bake the cookie filled cupcake tins for about 8-10 minutes or until just starting to turn golden around the edges. Once you can really smell them, they are done. Set them aside to cool while you prepare the cupcake batter and the cheesecake filling. And now, on to the cupcakes.

~ Chocolate Cupcakes ~

• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2/3 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon espresso powder
• 1 1/2 cups hot coffee
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

~ Cheescake Filling ~

• 10 oz, cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine chocolate, cocoa, espresso powder in a medium mixing bowl and pour hot coffee over. Let sit until chocolate is melted. Stir to combine; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. To chocolate mixture add vinegar, oil, eggs, and vanilla; mix well with fork to combine. Pour over flour mixture and stir well. Set this aside for just a moment.

For the filling, beat the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and salt with a handheld mixer until creamy and smooth. Ready to assemble now?

Pour the batter into the lined muffin tin, just covering the cookie layer - the batter will be thin. Using a tablespoon measure or a disher, plop the cheesecake mixture on top of the cupcake batter. Carefully cover up the cheesecake with more cupcake batter (your batter is going to get frighteningly close to the top of the cupcake liner. Just go with it, but don't overfill them). Bake at 350 for 15 - 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for about 10 minutes in pan and then cool completely on a wire rack.

This made me really nervous...

But see? It worked out fine!

And now, we are moving on to the buttercream. But first we have to make a caramel. Easy, easy - just don't put your fingers in it.

~Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream~

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 12 ounces unsalted butter, softened, and cut into tablespoon-sized pats
• 5 large egg whites, room temperature (save the yolks for lemon curd! Or custard!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Bring 3/4 cup of the sugar and the water to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan. Cook, undisturbed, until the caramel is dark amber. Remove from the heat, and slowly add in the cream, stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth. Let cool before proceeding.

This is how it starts.

Don't touch it!

Something's happening - no touchie!

TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF!

Whew!

What? Your own caramel-making doesn't feel like that?

Now that your caramel is cooled, place the egg whites and the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar in a heatproof mixing bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Whisk until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to 160 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Remove the egg white mixture from the heat, and attach the bowl to the mixer. Whisk on medium speed for 5 minutes. Increase the speed to medium high and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 6 minutes. Change to the paddle attachment, and add in the butter, one pat at a time, mixing until each is completely incorporated before adding a new pat. Whisk in the salt and vanilla.

(Now, sometimes when you do this, the mixture starts to look curdled. Don't panic, and keep mixing. I don't know why this happens. Maybe Alton Brown can tell me. All I know is, 4 times this will go just fine, and the 5th time it looks curdled. Just keep mixing and it will smooth out. I promise).

With the mixer on low speed, add caramel, and beat until smooth.

With a piping bag fitted with the star tip, pipe the frosting onto the filled cupcakes (or just swoop it on with a butter knife). You should have just enough frosting for the 24 cupcakes.

And now, because I can't leave well enough alone, you can make a ganache to drizzle over the top. You certainly don't have to, but it's easy, and you can then use the rest to top ice cream, your left over cookies, your finger...I'm certainly not going to judge. Ganache is easy.

~Chocolate Ganache~

• 3/4 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Put the chocolate chips and the salt into a bowl. Heat the cream in a heavy pot over meium heat until bubbles are starting to form. Pour the hot cream over the chips and then whisk the mixture until the chocolate is melted and all is smooth. Pour into a piping bag, or a squeeze bottle, or use a spoon and drizzle the ganache over the frosted cupcakes.

Store these in the refrigerator, but make sure you let the cupcakes come to room temperature before serving. Makes 24.

Happy, happy birthday, my Odile!

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Apricot Jam Filling and Apricot-Sour Cream Frosting

Huzzah for summertime! Berries, stone fruits, tomatoes, fresh corn, basil...and zucchini coming at you from just about everywhere! All right, I don't really care for zucchini. I think it's mushy. My teeny-tiny-I-live-in-an-apartment container garden boasts only tomatoes and a few herbs this year, but even had I the space, I'd not grow zucchini. Why? Who needs to? There's bound to be someone nearby who has a pile of gigantic, out-of-control zucchini...you know the ones...the ones that look like troll clubs. I am told that these do not work well for cooking (too watery? I have no idea. I avoid zucchini in savory applications). They do, however, work wonderfully in baked goods, such as zucchini bread and, most definitely, chocolate zucchini cake.

I mean, look at those photos. Do you see any vegetables? Well, there are three cups of zucchini shoehorned into these cupcakes. The addition of the zucchini makes the cupcakes surprisingly light and very, very moist. This works well for summer, when chocolate can get a little heavy. In keeping with the summer theme I filled the cupcakes with apricot jam (I used homemade but by all means open a jar of store bought) and then topped them with an apricot-sour cream frosting). Light, easy, summery, and delicious, and the recipe uses an entire monster zucchini (or about 3 cups, grated). I'm sure you only have a few dozen left to get through.

Have you considered pickling?

This recipe makes 24 cupcakes, exactly, so be ready to share with your friends.

~Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes~

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon espresso powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups shredded zucchini (use a box grater or your food processor - this will take one giant zucchini or three medium zucchini)
• (2 cups apricot jam)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, espresso powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the oil, sugars, eggs, yogurt, vanilla, and zucchini. Pour in the dry ingredients and mix until all is well-combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the 24 cupcake liners. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cakes are done (test for this by inserting a skewer into the middle of a cupcake - if it comes out clean, it is done). Let the cupcakes cool for five minutes in the pan before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, cut out a cone-shaped portion out of the top of each cake. Slice off the excess cake from the cone (leaving the flat cap) and reserve the top. Fill the resulting hole in the cupcake with apricot jam (again, use homemade if you have it or storebought if you don't. Either is fine). Replace the cap. Repeat the process with the remaining cupcakes. You will probably need about a jar and a half of apricot jam to fill all the cupcakes.

~Apricot-Sour Cream Frosting~

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup apricot jam
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 7-8 cups powdered sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and jam on medium speed until fluffy and combined. Beat in the sour cream, vanilla, and salt.

Working with about one cup of sugar at a time, add in the sugar and beat on low until each cup is incorporated. Once all the sugar is in, increase the speed to medium-high and beat the frosting for about 3 minutes or until fluffy.

Using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip, pipe on frosting on top of each cupcake and then garnish with edible glitter (or use a butter knife and just swoop it on). It is best if you store these cupcakes in the refrigerator, but let them come to room temperature before serving.