Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes

You have to be a huge chocolate fan to like these ones. They are so rich and flavorful and are best right when they come out of the oven.

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. in a medium bowl swift together
1 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
set aside

using a mixer, combine
6 tablespoons of butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup of sugar
until pale or for about a minute and than add
1 egg and stir until just combined.
gently add in half the flour mixture and than 2/3 cup of milk and than the rest of the flour mixture.
to make the cupcakes more moist, I always add 2 big spoonfuls of sour cream
set aside

In a small bowl combine
6 ounces of cream cheese (room temperature)
4 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla
as many chocolate chips you want
set aside

fill the cupcake liners with the chocolate batter until the bottom is just covered. Than add a little bit of the cream cheese filling followed by more of the chocolate batter. Cover the cream cheese filling.
Bake for 20 minutes


now for the ganache frosting :)
place a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. in this bowl place
3/4 cup of semisweet mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup of heavy cream
continue whisking until the chocolate is melted and is thick, about 4 minutes. remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes

Once the cupcakes have cooled down for about 5 minutes, take a spoon and pour the frosting onto the cupcakes. To top it all off, a raspberry can be placed on top of each cupcake. Any fruit would work. You could also just sprinkle them :)