black bottom cupcakes.

I tried baking black bottom cupcakes last weekend, but sadly, they were a big fail. I didn't like the cupcake base so much (no eggs!) and since I didn't have cream cheese, I tried to use a white chocolate filling that didn't work well cos they burned the tops.

Anyway, as my friend would tell me, "Nothing stops a passionate baker." Hell yeah, I would never back down until I get it. So, after a few days of baking relapse, I tried my hand at it again. This time, I didn't use the original recipe I got from Joy of Baking. I didn't even use it as my inspiration. I used a completely different recipe, but they're kind of the same - no butter, just oil. I used Joy of Baking's Chocolate Banana recipe and just omitted the bananas. It was also my way of experimenting with the cake, to see if they'll still be moist even without the bananas.

So here's my own Black Bottom Cupcake version.

For the cupcakes:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Bensdorp Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup whole milk / 1/4 cup evaporated milk diluted in 1/4 cup water
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
custard filling (recipe follows)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir, or whisk, until combined. You will notice that the batter is quite thin.

Scoop (I used a 2oz ice cream scoop) batter into muffin tin, just until they're half full. Scoop custard filling on top.

Bake at 180C (160C for my turbo) for 18-20 minutes or until tooth pick inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

For the custard filling:
2-3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolks, beaten

In a sauce pan (a double boiler might be better to prevent curdling), melt butter. Once butter has melted add sugar little by little. Once incorporated, add in cornstarch. Pour in milk, stirring slowly. Let mixture simmer. Add egg yolks and vanilla. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat once mixture is smooth and thick.

It's like leche flan in a cake! Yuuuum!

Black Bottom Cupcakes With Custard Filling