Nutella Gooey Butter Cake

So do you remember that post I wrote long ago called 'Dear South, What the Heck is Gooey Butter Cake'? I was so baking naive way back in April 2010 wasn't I? Well anyway, I found an upgrade. And while I'm a little upset to part with the original recipe because it was SO good, I had to venture and try this one I found using Nutella. If it involves Nutella, it's gotta be good. The original recipe came from Let's Dish. I kept everything the same except I didn't use Devil's Food Cake for the crust. I just used plain yellow cake mix. I thought the chocolate crust and the Nutella center might be a little too rich for me. Overall, it turned out really good but I think I actually like the original better. I don't know, what do you think?

nutella gooey butter cake.

crust.
1 package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted

filling:
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup Nutella (save yourself some time, this is about the contents of 1 13 oz jar)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (16 oz.) box powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. Mix cake mix, butter and egg together until a light dough forms.
3. Spread dough across bottom of prepared pan.
4. Beat cream cheese until smooth.
5. Add the eggs, vanilla and butter and beat together.
6. Add powdered sugar and beat well.
7. Spread over cake batter and bake for 40-50 minutes (mine took about 38 minutes). Center should not be quite set. Don't cook too long or its not gooey!

Black Bottom - Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cupcakes and Happy Birthday Mom!

So I finally had another free weekend where I've actually had a chance to bake something. I actually spent more time trying to figure out what I want to bake then I actually did baking. My baking time is so scarce these days that I end up wanting to bake everything that I see. As this weekend happened to land on my Mom's birthday, I geared my choice to her taste and ended up with Black Bottom cupcakes. I was really stoked about the way these ended up. They aren't very sweet, not the way you would imagine a chocolate cupcake and while it took me a hot second to get used to, I'm glad I didn't add more sugar because I think these are actually my favorite chocolate cupcakes. I used dark chocolate cocoa instead of dutch processed and I cut out some of the sugar. If you like your cupcakes sweet, I would actually add a little more sugar in addition to what I cut out. As an added bonus, they were surprisingly simple to make and of course, they were a huge hit with the fam.

Enjoy!







black bottom cupcakes: Adapted from Baking Bites

cream cheese filling.
16-oz cream cheese, room temperature (I used 1/3 less fat)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 large egg whites, room temperature
2 tbsp sour cream, room temperature (I used low fat)
1/3 cup miniature chocolate chips

chocolate cupcake.
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (I used Hershey's dark chocolate cocoa)
1 1/4 cups sugar (I only used 1 cup here. Again, you might want to add more if you prefer sweeter cake)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup sour cream (low fat)
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
(You know what's awesome? No eggs! Not that i have an issue with eggs but I'm pretty sure that is why these cupcakes were so dense and delicious)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.

To make cream cheese filling:
2. Beat together cream cheese, sugar and salt until smooth.
3. Beat in egg whites and sour cream.
4. Stir in chocolate chips and set aside.

To make cupcakes:
5. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, salt, flour, cocoa powder and baking soda.
6. Make a well in the center and add in sour cream, water, butter and vanilla.
7. Stir together until just combined and no streaks of flour remain.

8.Divide cake batter evenly among 24 cupcake liners.
9. Top each portion of batter with 1 rounded tablespoon cream cheese mixture (It is ok to have a little left over).
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the side (cake only part) should come out with a few moist crumbs on it. **Rotate pans halfway through baking if you are using two racks.
11. Cool in pans for 5 minutes.** Cream cheese filling should sink slightly in this time.
12. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.