Frostingless Black Bottom Cupcakes with Strawberry Cheesecake Filling

The Cupcake Swap: Week 5

It’s summer and I wanted to take advantage of the fresh sweet strawberries but also wanted to create a chocolate cupcake. At times I feel like frosting can easily overpower a cupcake and make it almost too sweet—if there’s such a thing. This cupcake has a tasty strawberry ‘cheesecake’ filling that serves as the ‘frosting’ of the cake. These travel great and are a little quicker to make since there isn’t the extra step of frosting.

Strawberry Jam

(you can also use readymade jam, just make sure it’s at room temp when you add it into the cheese mixture).

1 lb of fresh strawberries

2 cups of sugar

Juice of 2 lemons

1. Clean, hull and quarter 1lb of strawberries.
2. In a bowl mash the strawberries.
3. In a large pot combine mashed strawberries, sugar and lemon juice.
4. Stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
5. Increase heat to high until the mixture has reached a full rolling boil (it will double in size). Be very CAREFUL when handling this – it’s extremely hot and may splatter.
6. Remove from heat and cool.
7. Mixture should be the consistency of jam- whip if you desire a thicker consistency.

Cheesecake Filling

8 ounces regular or reduced fat cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1. Beat together the cream cheese, granulated sugar, and egg until smooth.
2. By hand fold in the strawberry jam. Refrigerate until needed later.

Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

5 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

1/3 cup unflavored vegetable oil

1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat to 350°F
2. Line a 12 cupcake pan
3. In a bowl combine flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk until combined.
4. In a large separate bowl, mix together the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
5. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring until just smooth. Do not overstir
6.  Divide the batter among the cups.
7. Add about 2 teaspoons of the chilled cheesecake filling into the center of the batter.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, or until cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed.