My Baking Diary: "White-Haired Mr Choco"

"Can eat, can d lah..." *sigh* if it tastes good, it's a bonus...I'm on the verge of giving up on baking...

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This recipe was actually called "Black Bottom" from The Joy of Baking, but my so-called "Black Bottom" didn't turn out to be just like the recipe's photo. Instead, it looked like a chocolate man with hair-hair! Thus its name ;)

Swirls

I was disappointed that the cream cheese couldn't stay in the centre, so I took a toothpick & swirled it with the chocolate cupcake batter...

The original - how it's supposed to look like

Ah, what a far cry...bummer...

Photo taken from The Joy of Baking

The recipe is quite simple. The only problem I had was with the timing. I'm not sure why my cake didn't set in the 25 minutes as stated in the recipe. I had to go up to almost 40 minutes for cupcakes! Bummer. It's really strange.

I had 2 bad Mr Chocos as well, which took AGES to set...I had to bake those 2 rascals for almost an hour to get the cake to set! *ergh* I've no idea what went wrong with those 2, but the rest turned out fine as a batch. I sure hope it'll taste as good as it looks! :)

Cream Cheese Filling
8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
1/3 cup (30 grams) natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (240 ml) water (I used coffee instead since coffee enhances the taste of chocolate)
1/3 cup (80 ml) vegetable,corn or canola oil (or other flavorless oil)
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pre-Baking
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and line 10-12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Directions (Cream Cheese Filling)
1. In your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
2. Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until creamy and smooth. (I forgot this step!! *sigh*)

Ain't I "clever"?

I mixed EVERYTHING together...gah!

Slightly lumpy instead of creamy & smooth

Not sure if it's because I mixed EVERYTHING together...

3. Set aside while you make the Chocolate Cupcake batter.

Directions (Chocolate Cupcake)
1. In a large bowl sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Tip: Use a large, round container with a lid

As everything is dry, to get all ingredients to mix well, close the lid of the container & shake it all up! It's really awesome! ;)

2. In a separate bowl mix the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract. (I forgot this step as well!! *sigh*)
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients until nice and smooth.

"Brilliant"!

I made a well & started to put all the wet ingredients one by one into the bowl...ergh....

4. Evenly divide the batter among the 10-12 muffin cups.
5. Then spoon a few tablespoons of the cream cheese filling into the center of each cupcake.

Failed...

It's not "heavy" enough to sink into the centre...I wonder how it's really supposed to be done...wergh...

Baking
1. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the cream cheese filling has set and the cupcakes feel springy to the touch (a toothpick inserted into the chocolate part of the cupcake will come out clean).
2. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
* The cupcakes can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for about 3 - 4 days.

With some of the steps mixed up & missed out, I think I now know what're the possible reasons that my cake took a much longer time to set. Bah.

Updated on 14th September 2012

Actually tastes good!

Rich & chocolatey with a creamy cheese top. The chocolate cake is also very moist! :) *love* Best eaten chilled.

Still a newbie in baking,