Crispy Chewy Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cupcakes

Once I start, I can’t stop.
I started making muffins (peanut butter and jelly muffins and banana crumb muffins) and cupcakes and now I’m on a roll.

Cupcakes are just so darn easy to make, they cook up real fast, and they are portion controlled (well, if you can eat just one)…

The kids go crazy over these little gems, too!




There are just so many options—traditional chocolate and vanilla, red velvet, filled cupcakes, coconut, banana, green tea…


And the frosting—cream cheese frosting, pink, purple, white, red, chocolate, vanilla, maple…

Don’t forget the decorations: sprinkles, a dusting of cocoa powder, crushed graham crackers, oreos, life savers, mints, chocolate chips, chopped nuts, fresh fruit, mint leaves…


I must say that today my cupcake of choice was the chocolate cupcake with brown sugar cream cheese frosting. The top of the cake has a melt-in-your-mouth texture with a slightly crispy yet delicate and chewy consistency. And these little treasures have just the right amount of chocolate to win a girl over!


Just for kicks, here is a picture of a vanilla bean cupcake with vanilla bean frosting that I made a few weeks ago…You can see the flecks of the bean which earn gold stars in my book!



Chocolate Cupcakes (makes 12, or less…) Adapted from Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

a scant ¾ cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

a pinch of salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup of whole milk

1 egg

¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 recipe of brown sugar cream cheese frosting (or any frosting of your choice)

1. Preheat oven to 325° F.
2. Combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter in a bowl and whisk together until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined. (feel free to use an electric mixer if you have the luxury to do so).
3. Whisk the milk, egg, and vanilla together.
4. Slowly add half the milk mixture into the flour mixture. Mix until no lumps form. Add the rest of the milk mixture and mix until the batter is smooth (but do not overmix).
5. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes. (warning: they may collapse in the center a bit so do not over-fill the tins).
6. Cool completely and frost!


Brown sugar cream cheese frosting (this makes a LOT of frosting but hey, the more the merrier!) Adapted from Joythebaker

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

8oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

4-6 cups powdered sugar

2-4 tablespoons milk

Beat the cream cheese until really soft. Add the butter. Add the brown sugar, pinch of salt and vanilla extract, and beat until incorporated. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar. Slowly add more sugar alternately with the milk until you reach your desired consistency.