Raspberry Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

These are almost too freaking cute to eat, but I’m sure you’ll get over it and down a few anyways. What the heck- down a dozen- they’re mini cupcakes, for God’s sake!

Okay, so there are some people that go all crazy for the combo of raspberry and chocolate. (If it’s not for you, don’t abandon me. Click here for a recipe that focuses on the main issue at hand: Chocolate on Chocolate on Chocolate Bars. Oh yes, there are three layers of chocolate in all its glory.) Chocolate is a team player. It plays nicely with mint (like in the Mint Chocolate Bark), orange (remember the Fudgy Orange Brownie Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing?), nuts (check out pretty much every recipe on this site), and booze (oh, like the Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse, which you’ll definitely take seconds and thirds of). But raspberry- it really does pair well with chocolate- especially dark chocolate. (Any time you see dark chocolate, inhale it as a guilt-free experience, what with all the antioxidants going on and all.)

Sometimes cupcakes look all lovely but taste a bit like sugared cardboard. Not these. Raspberry jam is stuffed into a dark chocolate version of my very favorite chocolate cake ever, so you can trust that the cakes are good enough to eat on their own. (I know that you would never do that though, not when Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting is in the picture. Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting begs to be eaten on perfect little raspberry cupcakes, and also on its own, by the spoonful, until your stomach tells you that you might need to barf. Pretty pink barf, though.)

Adapted from my Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipe…

CUPCAKES:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder (see notes below)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoons salt

2 cups hot water

3/4 cups vegetable oil

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules (or 3/4 teaspoon instant espresso granules)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup raspberry preserves

FROSTING:

1 8-ounce block of softened cream cheese (1 cup)

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract

3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar (more or less, depending on how you prefer the consistency)

4 – 5 drops red food coloring (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 350° and spray 40 – 48 mini-cupcake liners (or 20 – 24 full-size cupcake liners) with non-stick spray.
2. MAKE CUPCAKES:
  
  In a large bowl, whisk flour through salt (first six ingredients) together.
  
  In a measuring cup, stir hot water with oil, vinegar, instant coffee/espresso and vanilla together. Pour into bowl with dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.
  
  Pour enough batter into each cupcake liner to cover the bottom, then scoop a 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry preserves in the center of each liner (use a full teaspoon for full-size cupcakes). Cover with additional cake batter so no preserves are visible (liners should end up 3/4 full before baking).
  
  Bake for 9 – 12 minutes for mini-cupcakes, or 15 – 20 minutes for full-size cupcakes (until cake tester/wooden skewer comes out clean). Cool cupcake tins on a rack for 15 minutes then remove cupcakes to finish cooling.
3. MAKE FROSTING:
  
  Mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla and raspberry extract until well combined.
  
  Add confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time, beating until smooth (scraping sides of bowl after each addition of sugar); add sugar until you have reached your desired consistency. Stir in red food coloring (if using), adding more drops to reach desired color of pink/red.
  
  Fill a piping bag with frosting and frost cooled cupcakes (I use a large star pattern in the picture above).
Tips:
- Dark cocoa– my favorite is King Arthur Flour’s Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa. If you don’t have it, or don’t feel like getting it, use a full 1/2 cup of regular unsweetened cocoa powder. Just make sure you are using dutch-processed cocoa powder… it has to do with how the cake rises, tastes, etc. Trust me. I have screwed this cake up before.
- No raspberry extract/flavoring? No worries. The cream cheese frosting will be great on its own, and you could always stir in a bit of the raspberry preserves if you wanted…
- Feel like using strawberry instead? Well, who am I to stop you? Serve a Chocolate Covered Strawberry alongside while you’re at it!
- Food coloring is a tough one. It’s so not natural. Yet it’s so lovely to look at. You can buy natural ones, which I have tried to some success. I admit I used full-blown “unnatural” red dye here, which is highly ironic since I insist on using organic everything else. Maybe it’s all a balance? Healthy everything else cancels out the toxic effects of the food dye? Hm. At least the raspberry flavor I used was natural.
- Use salted butter for the frosting. If you happen to be using unsalted, throw in a pinch of salt when mixing it all together. (Salt makes sweet things taste sweeter via a glorious contrast.)
- You might end up with extra frosting, which is something I love. I freeze the extras in their piping bags and have handy to use for a cake or cookie in an impromptu “I must have frosting on this” moment.
- Enjoy, liberally!
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September 7th, 2013 | More Sweets Please | 4 Comments | Tags: Cakes, Chocolate, Fruit

4 Responses and Counting...

Crystal 09.07.2013

I really want to try these but have a few questions. I wanted to make this a layered cake but wasn’t sure what to do about the raspberry jam that would have the filling for cupcakes. Can I just mix it in the batter or do you think it will somehow change the taste/consistency? Or do you think I should just leave it out? Also as far as bake times go for a layered cake any suggestions? Thanks!
More Sweets Please

Hi Crystal- what a fantastic idea to make a cake version of this recipe. I would pour the cake batter into your pans, then scoop little teaspoon-sized blobs of jam all over the surface of the cake. Then take a sharp knife and swirl the jam around a bit, just to spread the love. (I wouldn’t mix it into the batter, because the taste would probably be lost on the eater.) AND/OR… you could spread jam between your cake layers, and use the frosting on the top & sides of the cake. Oh yes. As for the bake time, two 8″ cake pans should bake for about 30-35 minutes. Let me know how it turns out!
Kayte

Such a lovely idea..I’m afraid it’s just that tho:( every time…every single time..the filling sinks to the bottom:( so much so that it must be eaten with a spoon in order to “scoop” up the raspberry filling at the bottom of the cupcake in order to taste it as part of the cupcake itself.
More Sweets Please

Shoot- I’m so sorry about that. It might be the kind of preserves you’re using? I’ve had that before too and I think the filling was too thick and heavy. I’ll try it again too!