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Hungry Happenings

Featuring Fun Food, Edible Crafts, Kid's Treats, Party Food, and Recipes for holidays and special occasions.

The ultimate chocolate cupcake stuffed with a CHEESECAKE pumpkin.

by

In my last post, I promised you I’d share a surprising way to use the Mini Cheesecake Pumpkins that I made using silicone molds. Did you have any idea I would stuff these creamy little bites of Halloween goodness into a cupcake?
 
 
I just had to. As soon as I popped the tiny cheesecakes out of the pumpkin molds, their size and shape made me think of all the Halloween reveal cupcakes I’ve seen on Pinterest lately. 
 
It’s always fun to find a ghost, a bat or a pumpkin inside a cupcake. I’ve made these surprise cake inside a cake treats before. The first time I nestled a heart shaped piece of baked cake inside raw cake batter, I wondered, how the twice baked part of the cake could possibly taste good. It really does.

So, as I sat and studied my little cheesecakes I wondered, if a cheesecake would fare as well. It does!

 
After waiting for my cupcakes to bake and cool, I finally got to cut into one, and I got a little giddy when I saw that the pumpkin still looked like a pumpkin. The texture of the cheesecake was still creamy and smooth. At that point I was so happy that I decided to go all out and use Cooks Illustrated’s Ultimate Chocolate Cupcake recipe, because something so pretty surely needed to taste just as wonderful. 
 
The recipe calls for stuffing chocolate ganache inside the most amazingly chocolatey cupcake, but I wanted to put a cheesecake inside instead, so I decided to put the ganache on top in a big heaping swirl. This is a seriously decadent cupcake. If you don’t like incredibly rich desserts, walk away now, forgetting what you’ve seen here. But, if you are like me and you can’t get enough of  rich, creamy, chocolatey, desserts, then go into your kitchen and give these a try. You’ll definitely thank me for it.
 
 
The Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes Stuffed 
             with Cheesecake Pumpkins (makes 11)
 

Ingredients:

22 Mini Cheesecake Pumpkins (recipe, here)

Cupcakes: recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
3 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 ounce (1/3 cup) Dutch-processed cocoa
3/4 cup hot coffee*
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup (4 1/8 ounce) bread flour**
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

*These cupcakes will not taste like coffee, I promise. If they did, I wouldn’t like them. It just intensifies the chocolate flavor.

**Definitely use bread flour. If you use all purpose flour, the cupcakes won’t hold together as well. You need the extra gluten in the bread flour to keep the structure of the cupcake.

ganache frosting and decorations:
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped
1 cup heavy whipping cream
optional: Halloween sprinkles or candy

Supplies:

whisk
22 Halloween cupcake wrappers 
cupcake pan
2 large pastry bags
optional: food processor
hand mixer
large star pastry tip

Note: if you bake the cupcakes in two liners instead of one, the inside liner will protect the outer liner from getting dark so you’ll actually be able to see the design. Plus the outside liner will have conformed to the shape of the cupcake. It looks great.

Instructions:

Make Mini Cheesecake Pumpkins (click here for recipe) and keep them frozen until needed. When you paint in the green filling, be sure to fill the entire stem area, so that when you cut into the cupcakes you have a nice pumpkin shape. 

Make cupcake batter. Pour finely chopped chocolate and cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl. Add hot coffee and stir until chocolate melts. Place in the refrigerator to cool for about 20 minutes. 
 
Once cooled, whisk in oil, eggs, white vinegar, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl whisk together the sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt. Add it to the chocolate bowl and whisk until smooth. 

Place cupcake liners in cupcake pan. Pour a thin layer of batter into each of the cupcake liners.

 
Remove the Mini Cheesecake Pumpkins from the freezer. Un-mold them, and stick 2 cheesecakes together (put their backsides together) then place them in the center of each cupcake liner.
 
NOTE: It is very important that you know which way your cheesecake pumpkins are facing. Later when you cut into a cupcake to reveal the pumpkin, you want to cut across the front not the side. 
 
Fill the cupcake liners up over the cheesecake pumpkins. I felt it was easiest to put my batter in a large disposable pastry bag and pipe it into the cups. Once all the cups are filled allow them to sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes. While you are waiting, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Bake the cupcakes for 20-22 minutes until they are set around the edges and puffed in the middle. As the cupcakes cool, they will sink a bit in the center. Allow them to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the chocolate ganache frosting.

 
 
Place chopped chocolate in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until chocolate is fine crumbs.
Heat heavy whipping cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir often until it just comes to a boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, put lid on the food processor bowl, and let sit for 2-3 minutes. Pulse for 3 seconds. Remove lid and scrape down the sides and bottom of the food processor bowl. Return lid and pulse for 5 more seconds or until the mixture, which is called ganache, is smooth. Dont’ over-mix your ganache or it will turn grainy as it sets up.

Note: A food processor makes easy work of creating a chocolate ganache. If you don’t have one, finely chop your chocolate and put it in a microwave safe mixing bowl. Boil cream as above and pour over chocolate and let sit for 2-3 minutes. Use a whisk to create an emulsion. Begin by stirring just in the center of the bowl, then slowly bring the whisk out to the edge of the bowl. Stir just until combined and the ganache is smooth. If you have chunks of chocolate remaining, place entire bowl in microwave and heat on high for 10 seconds. Stir until melted.

Pour ganache into a mixing bowl and chill in the refirgerator for 15 minutes, then remove and stir. Refrigerate for 15 more minutes. Then use an electric mixer to beat the ganache until it’s lighter in color (left photo.) The frosting will not hold stiff peaks at this point, it should fall off the beaters. Allow it to sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes, but no more. Beat for 5 more seconds and it should now hold stiff peaks (right photo.)

Immediately spoon the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe big swirls over cooled cupcakes. This frosting is rather stiff and will actually harden slightly much like a chocolate truffle. You can easily bite into it and it has an intense chocolate flavor, but it is not soft like a butter cream style frosting.

Decorate with Halloween sprinkles or candy, if desired. I found it helpful to just sprinkle the front side of each cupcake. That way when I went to cut into them, I knew which direction the pumpkin would be facing.

Keep cupcakes stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow them to come to room temperature before serving so that the ganache frosting and the cheesecake are smooth and creamy and will melt in your mouth.

When you cut into them, use a sharp knife to cut across the front of the cupcake about 1/4th of the way into the cupcake for the best results.

These pumpkin stuffed cupcakes would also make a wonderful Thanksgiving dessert. Just decorated them with fall colored sprinkles or candies instead.

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Thank you for visiting Hungry Happenings 

– Beth

Items used to create this project that are available on Amazon.com (commission earned for sales)

 
A few more Halloween recipes from Hungry Happenings.
 
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Comments

  1. Cake AND cheesecake…*boom* mind blown.
    I don't know if I should say "thank you" for bringing this deliciousness into my life
    or "what have you done" because now my diet has been completely derailed. 🙂
    I need to get me some pumpkin molds ASAP!

    • I get it. I just ate part of one of these amazingly decadent cupcakes for breakfast. OMG, my diet is totally blown. I guess I'll need to ride my bike an extra 10 miles today. Eeek.

  4. Beth;
    Your entire site is AMAZING, but I couldn't just read this post and walk away – bravo – this are excellent and perfect for the season!

    • Thanks so much. I'm happy that you liked this post enough to stop by and saw more that intrigued you enough to stick around!

  5. the only time i'd walk away would be if there were a plate of these waiting for me in the next room!
    oh and btw, your pics are beauty full! :>D

    • Thanks. Yes, the cheesecakes pop out so easy, but they do need to be frozen. I've had success removing them without freezing, but some might crack or break. Freezing is definitely the key.

  8. Oh my oh my, these are the cutest stuffed brownies ever, not to mention the look
    they must taste heavenly! That ganache piled so high on top of a cheesecake filled
    brownie…. I just gained 5 pounds. Absolutely brilliant!! 🙂

    • Believe me, I gained 5 pounds eating them! They really are addicting. I had to give most of them away just so I wouldn't eat all of them, because believe me, I wanted to:)

  14. Oh these are just TOO cute!!! I LOVE the pumpkin in the center, that is just the cutest idea!!!! Love love love this!!! The cupcakes look delicious too! Happy fall! 🙂

  21. WOW! I am really impressed with your cupcakes! thanks so much for taking time to write all about it! they look delicious and perfect! 🙂
    visiting from Krista's Halloween link party! 🙂

  22. Wow..!! Totally mouth watering. I just can't control myself. These are really so beautiful. Reading this I feel they are easy to make also but will get to know when i will try actually. 😛 This is the best Diwali gifts idea. Would like to make this for my family this year. Thank you so much for this delicious post. 😉

    • Oh, I'm so happy to hear you say that. Wait until you try the entire cupcake. I'm sure you will love the. Be sure to snap some pictures. I'll share them on Facebook and in my readers' gallery. Have fun!

  24. Wow. I absolutely need to make these cupcakes. A friend of mine and I have a YouTube vlog based around cooking interesting things…we should attempt this!

  27. What a great idea! i love that adorable mini pumpkins baked inside yummy cupcakes.
    I've featured this recipe on my blog, hoping that you don't mind, but if you do, please contact me and I'll remove it. All the best.

    • I have not tried that before, but would think it the cheesecakes are frozen, they should hold their shape in the oven. I would probably make the cheesecake without whipped topping (Cool Whip) just use cream cheese, sugar or powdered sugar and vanilla. You could also use marshmallow cream in place of the sugar. I just don't know how well whipped topping would do in the oven. It's usually in the no-bake cheesecakes just to give them volume anyway, and wouldn't be needed in these.

      Good luck. I'd love to hear how it turns out.

    • Yes, Emily, it will work, you just need to cut directly in the middle of the cupcake to be sure you see a nice shaped pumpkin. Also you'll make probably one fewer cupcake, maybe even two.

  30. Dear Beth,
    What a great idea!!! I live all the way in the Netherlands, and Halloween is getting more popular here every year. So I was looking for some good recipies… great website of yours…. with much more ideas than just Halloween.
    Glad I've found you, thanks for explaining everything, there's a lot I want to trie!
    Happy Halloween and greets from Holland,
    Michelle

    • Hi Michelle, I'm so happy you are enjoying my Halloween ideas. I visited the Netherlands this summer and had a wonderful time. We traveled there with our German exchange student and her father and they were great tour guides. I can't wait to go back.

      I love that Halloween is becoming more popular in other parts of the world. It is such a fun holiday!

      Enjoy,

      Beth

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