Santa Hat Cupcakes in Demarle

Last Sunday's Potluck was amazing.   Our hostess made a huge pot of hamburger soup and homemade rolls as only she can make them. Others contributed salads and desserts in such a tempting array.

We took a dessert.  I wanted to take something to do with the season.  Looked around Pinterest for a few minutes and came up with this santa hat cupcake idea.  But because I like to use Demarle trays and molds you know I was going to put my own twist on it.

 

A requirement for our family is that dessert includes chocolate.  This recipe is for black bottom cupcakes which I blogged about last year.  Well upon further investigation I find I have not really blogged about this recipe.  This is hard to comprehend because it is our family's favorite dessert and I've made it countless times.

This time I used my new fancy dancy ISI (The brand matters) whipped cream dispenser.  But unless you plan on serving this dessert right away, don't do this.  By the time we served it at the potluck the whipping cream had melted away.  Next time I will use frosting to finish the hat.   The owner of the kitchen store where I had my birthday gift certificate to spend (this is what I got with it) said when dealing with compressed air, go with this brand of dispenser because others have the reputation of blowing up on you.  This was sound advice I'm sure because other advice has been good in the past.

So now you get the recipe which originally came to me about 20 years ago from a friend who got it from a friend when she was a minister in Alaska.  If you wish for more information on the Demarle trays contact me.

Happiness Pills aka Black Bottom Cupcakes

Cream Cheese Mixture

1 - 8 oz pkg cream cheese at room temp.

1 egg at room temp.

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 tsp. sea salt

1 cup semi-sweet choc. chips

Cake

1 ½ cups all purpose flour, used Wheat Montana non-bromated)

1 cup granulated sugar

¼ cup powdered baking cocoa

½ tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup water

1/3 cup cooking oil

1 Tablespoon vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup semi-sweet choc. chips

Cream Cheese Mixture: 

Combine all ingredients except choc. chips and beat well.  Stir in choc. chips; set aside.  It might be good to refrigerate this so it gets a little stiffer.  I did not do this step so the cream cheese mixture spread out too much in the mold as you can see in the photo.  It’s too hard to mix together if you don’t have these items at room temperature to start with.

Cake mixture:

Combine dry ingredients.  Combine moist ingredients. Mix together until well combined.  Add chocolate chips.  

For the sake of knowing amounts, I’m going to give the instructions for a Demarle cupcake form such as bouquet, charlotte or muffin tray.

Place about a teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture in the bottom of each mold and then place about 1/8 cup batter on top of it.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cool 10 minutes or place in freezer for a few minutes before turning out of mold.  Cream cheese tends to stick more than other things, so a short freeze is really helpful.

If you choose a smaller mold, adjust your amounts the best you can and bake for shorter times.  Mini Charlotte is 10 minutes and small savarin is 12 minutes.  May need a little adjustment for your oven.  Mine bakes hot.

If you have a small amount of cake or cream cheese mixture left over, you can always put it in a mold by itself so it’s not wasted.