Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting

Being so close to Valentine's Day and all I've been nonstop craving something chocolatey and rich. If you haven't noticed I haven't really been baking lately since I've been so busy with school, but I took a break from typing up my lab report this evening to answer my cravings. 
I borrowed from quite a few different recipes to make these decadent treats. For the cake portion, I wanted something really sumptuous so I added cocoa powder and two types of melted chocolates. But, I still wanted to keep it somewhat healthy (ha ha yeah right) so I used white whole wheat flour. I also subbed in skim milk to eliminate what fat I could.
I wanted the frosting to be a contrast to the sweet, rich cake portion so I opted for a mascarpone/cream cheese vanilla frosting that was heavenly. I used a full vanilla bean in this and you can definitely tell! It's wonderful!
The cake part turned out almost brownie-like; the outside was a bit crisp, and then the inside was so soft. They're even good without the frosting, and actually not too bad for you- see bottom of post for nutritional info (but the frosting is really good).

You can see the actual cupcakes are quite flat; that's apparently exactly how they are supposed to be as the original recipe I adapted noted that as well :)

Also, you can see a little blue heart in the top photo. I had intended to make red ones, but my red gel food coloring was all dry :(! I thought blue would be cute too though. All it is is melted white chocolate dyed and then sprinkled with sugar and left to dry.

Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes

adapted from here

makes 24 cupcakes

ingredients:

• 1/2 cup salted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 55g bittersweet chocolate
• 55g semisweet chocolate
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup unbleached white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup fat free milk
• 1 tsp vanilla paste

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
2. Combine the two chocolates in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir chocolate and if it's still not melted, microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring thoroughly after each. Let chocolate cool to about room temperature.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add in the melted chocolate and mix until combined. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each (about 30 seconds).
4. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
5. In a measuring cup mix together the milk and vanilla paste. Set aside.
6. Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to the chocolatey butter/sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.
7. Scoop into the lined muffin tins (I used a medium cookie scoop) about 1/2-2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to completely cool on a wire rack.

Mascarpone Frosting

slightly adapted from here


This isn't enough frosting for all 24 cupcakes, so you may want to double or even triple the recipe.

ingredients:

• 3 ounces Neufchatel cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp raw honey
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped from inside (you can add the empty pod to your granulated sugar to infuse it with a vanilla-y taste!)

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and beat until combined.
2. Use to frost cooled cupcakes. You can either pipe the frosting on, or simply spread it.

I topped a few with blueberries because I think berries go great with both mascarpone and chocolate!

Calories per cupcake WITHOUT frosting is 130 calories.

For 1/12 of the frosting recipe there are 110 calories.