Orange-Ooze Cupcakes
Submitted by BlackSwan
Chocolate Halloween cupcakes with a hidden orange cream cheese center that oozes out when bitten. Spooky fun for the kids and a riff on the classic Black Bottom cupcake.
YIELD
24 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
25 minREADY
45 minThese are the legendary Black Bottom cupcakes dressed up for Halloween. The cream cheese filling sinks into the chocolate batter, and as the cupcakes rise, the batter wraps around the orange-tinted center to create that surprise reveal when you bite in.
The vinegar in the batter isn’t a typo. It reacts with the baking soda to give the chocolate cake its rise without any eggs, making this an old-school depression-era “wacky cake” formula that just happens to be vegan-friendly (without the cream cheese filling, anyway).
Don’t skip drops of red with the yellow food coloring. Yellow alone reads pale and lemony rather than the deep pumpkin-orange you want for Halloween drama. Build the color drop by drop, it darkens fast.
Fill the liners only halfway before adding the cream cheese dollop. Overfill and the filling sits on top instead of sinking in, ruining the surprise inside.
Kitchen Tips
- Use room-temperature cream cheese for a smooth, lump-free filling that won’t tear the batter.
- Place the filling teaspoon directly in the center, off-center fillings tend to ooze out the side instead.
- Test for doneness with a toothpick at the cake edge, the gooey center will stay soft.
- Cool completely before peeling liners or you’ll lose the sticky chocolate edge to the paper.
Variations
- Top with cream cheese frosting tinted black for full Halloween effect.
- Stir mini white chocolate chips into the filling for ghost flecks instead of regular chocolate chips.
- Skip the food coloring and add 2 teaspoons of orange zest to the filling for a natural orange flavor.
Ingredients
Directions
Measuring cups and spoons, cupcake baking pans, paper cupcake liners, two small mixing bowls, electric mixer, mixing spoon, large mixing bowl, oven mitts.
Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃).
Line cupcake baking pans with paper cupcake liners.
In small mixing bowl, use electric mixer to combine cream cheese, egg and sugar.
Blend in 2 drops yellow food coloring and 1 drop red food coloring, adding more coloring if necessary to reach desired shade.
Use mixing spoon to stir in chocolate chips; set filling aside.
In large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In second small mixing bowl, combine water, vegetable oil, vinegar and vanilla.
Add contents of small mixing bowl to large mixing bowl and stir with mixing spoon to combine.
Using mixing spoon or soup spoon, fill cupcake liners half full with cupcake batter, then place 1 teaspoon filling at center of each.
As cupcake bakes, the batter will rise to surround the filling.
Wearing oven mitts, place cupcake pans in oven; bake approximately 25 minutes or until cupcakes test done.
When done, wear oven mitts to remove pan from oven and turn off oven.
If desired, frost with orange icing--or just let the orange filling ooze out as a surprise.
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