Mini Black Bottom Cupcakes
It’s a family favorite holiday treat! Our Mini Black Bottom Cupcakes have a delicious airy chocolate cake bottom with a sweet cream cheese, walnut, and chocolate chip top. Plus they’re made in mini cupcake tins to make them the perfect bite-sized dessert!
For when you want something chocolatey but also with a sweet cream cheese topping and a little crunch, our Mini Black Bottom Cupcakes are it! Even better, they are the perfect size for a little one-bite chocolate treat. They make a great addition to any holiday dessert tray or table and a great for the freezer, too!
Ingredients Needed
- Flour, – All-purpose flour is the go-to for this recipe, but you could use a 1:1 gluten-free flour.
- Sugar – White sugar is used for both the brownie-like bottom and the cream cheese topping.
- Cocoa Powder – For the chocolate base.
- Cream Cheese and Egg – For the sweet cream cheese topping.
- Water and Vegetable Oil – The wet ingredients for the brownie bottom.
- Baking Soda – Just a touch for leavening.
- White Vinegar – The acid needed to activate the baking soda.
- Vanilla Extract and Salt – Just a touch of each for added flavor.
- Chocolate chips and Walnuts: To finish with for an extra crunch and burst of chocolate flavor.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Prep Bowl 1
The first step is to prep your first bowl of ingredients – your dry ingredients. Add them all to a fine mesh strainer or sifter and sift them together into a large bowl.
The importance of sifting these ingredients is that by doing this you’re adding air and breaking up any potential clumps. The result is a lighter airier baked brownie-like bottom of your mini cupcakes.
Then once you have your aerated dry ingredients, it’s a simple addition of some oil, water, vanilla, salt, and just a touch of vinegar for the little hint of acidity needed to activate that baking soda.
Prep Bowl #2
In your 2nd bowl, just blend the sugar and cream cheese with your trusty hand mixer before adding an egg and the salt to make the thick sweet cream cheese topping.
Fill the Tins
Now it’s time to fill your mini tins! This is the most time-consuming part of the recipe because it does make quite a few. After all, they are so mini and perfectly bite-sized.
First, it’s a layer of the chocolate batter, a little top of the sweet cream cheese mixture, and then a finish of a sprinkle of chopped walnuts and a few chocolate chips.
Bake
Add those mini cupcake trays to the oven and bake!
How cute are these Mini Black Bottom Cupcakes?
A little mouthful of moist chocolate cake with a sweet cream cheese and nutty chocolate topping! They’re so cute and perfectly bite-sized!
Recipe Tips
Sifting the dry ingredients is key to getting a nice light and airy chocolate bottom for these mini cupcakes. For the minute of extra work it takes, it makes a big difference in the texture!
When making the cream cheese topping, it’s important to cream the cream cheese and the sugar together first and then add your egg. This will ensure you get the right texture.
Be sure to use an egg that has been brought to room temperature. This will ensure that it’s mixed into your batter evenly. If you forgot to take an egg out for this, you can just pop it in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes to bring it up to temp.
For the most accurate measurements when baking, we always encourage weighing your ingredients. Adding too much flour can cause an overly dense cupcake bottom. By weighing the ingredients, it will ensure consistent amounts every time. Even better, it means not having to dirty measuring cups, you can just pop your bowl on the scale and add ingredients until you get the weight you need. Ad
When mixing your ingredients, just mix them enough so that it’s all incorporated, but don’t overmix. That will over-activate the gluten and can cause dense cupcakes.
Not a fan of walnuts? No problem! Switch them out for some chopped pecans. Or add some peanut butter chips for the chocolate peanut butter lover in your life, or add some festive mini M&Ms instead!
These adorable little mini cupcakes are such a great addition to any holiday dessert tray. And they freeze perfectly!
You Also Might Like
- Homemade Mini Almond Joys
- Homemade Andes Mints
- Healthy Edible Cookie Dough Bites
- Peppermint Snowball Cookies
- Cream Cheese Frosting From Scratch
Enjoy! As always, if you make this recipe or any of my others, I love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, email me, or you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
If you want to see more, be sure to sign up for my 5 Easy Ways to Start Cooking From Scratch!
Mini Black Bottom Cupcakes
Ingredients
Bowl 1
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 213 g
- 1 cup sugar 208 g
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder 28 g
- 1 teaspoon baking soda 6 g
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon fine ground salt
Bowl 2
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1/3 cup sugar 67 g
- 1/8 teaspoon fine ground salt
- 1 large egg room temperature
Topping
- 1/2 cup walnuts chopped
- 2 cups chocolate chips exactly 192 chips
Instructions
- Sift Bowl 1: Add the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking soda) to a fine mesh sieve or sifter and sift together.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Add oil, water, vinegar, vanilla, and salt to the bowl and beat with a hand mixer until all ingredients are just combined.
- Mix Bowl 2: Add cream cheese and sugar to a medium-sized bowl and cream with a hand mixer. Add egg and salt and mix until it's all combined and creamy.
- Prep Toppings: Add chocolate chips and walnuts to small bowls and set aside.
- Preheat Oven: Prehead oven to 350 degrees F and line a mini muffin tins with liners.
- Fill Muffin Tin: Use a tablespoon measuring spoon to add 1 tablespoon of the chocolate mixture from bowl 1 to the mini muffin liners. This will fill the liners a little over 3/4 the way full. Then use a teaspoon measuring spoon to top the chocolate with 1 teaspoon of the sweet cream cheese mixture from bowl 2. Sprinkle with some chopped walnuts and then finish with 4 chocolate chips. Repeat until all of the chocolate and cream cheese filling is used.
- Bake: Add trays to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes in the trays and then remove from trays and let cool on cooling racks.
- Enjoy!
Wow! This bite-size chocolate cupcake looks incredibly delicious! A perfect treat for any given occasion! Kids will love and enjoy eating this!
This recipe is awesome for those who have a sweet cravings and I’m one of them, Thank you for this!