Black and White Cupcakes

When you’re not sure which kind of cupcake you’re in the mood for, these cupcakes are perfect. They’re half vanilla and half chocolate. And the best part is, the frosting is half vanilla and half chocolate! The combination is perfect. You get vanilla in one bite and chocolate in the other. I made them around Halloween, but you can make them anytime. And use any combination of flavors. The sky’s the limit! I found this in a lovely book I picked up called “Fun Stuff Cupcakes”. They really are “fun stuff”, and tasty too!

I used Nestle pre-melted pouches of unsweetened chocolate because they are much easier than melting the chocolate. Either way is fine if you can’t find the pouches. They were suppose to come out perfectly half and half, but as you can imagine,  nothing ever does. They were still delicious though. Thanks Duff for the cute cupcake picks!

Black & White Cupcakes

1 pkg (about 18 oz) vanilla cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare it
2 pkgs (1 oz each) pre-melted unsweetened chocolate pouches or 2/3 c. semi sweet chocolate chips melted
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup prepared vanilla frosting
1 cup prepared chocolate frosting

Vanilla Frosting:

1. c. confectioners sugar
2 Tbsp vegetable shortening
1 tsp vanilla extract
little milk to desired consistency

Chocolate Frosting:

1 c. confectioners sugar
2 Tbsp vegetable shortening
3 pouches pre-melted unsweetened chocolate
1/4 tsp espresso powder
little milk to desired consistency

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line 18 standard muffin cups with paper baking cups.

Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Reserve 2-1/2 c. batter in a medium bowl. Add melted chocolate and cream cheese to remaining batter. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed, about 2 minutes, or until smooth and well blended.

Spoon chocolate and vanilla batters side by side into prepared muffing cups, filling about 2/3 full. (Use chocolate batter first as it is slightly thicker and easier to position on one side of muffin cups).

Bake 16-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in to centers comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pans 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

To prepare frosting: Cream vegetable shortening together with confectioners sugar until blended. Add extract, or for chocolate pre-melted chocolate and espresso powder. Add milk a little at a time to desired spreading consistency. Spread vanilla frosting over half of each cupcake; spread chocolate frosting over remaining half of each cupcake.