Page 51 - Cupcakes

cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.

2. Break the chocolate bars into quarters, stack them on top of each other, and
slice down the short end of the stack with a sharp knife. You will have about 1
cup of ¼-inch shavings. Set them aside.

3. Place the cake mix, cream cheese, water, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large
mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the
machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase
the mixer speed to medium and blend for 2 minutes more, scraping down the
sides again if needed. The batter should look thickened and smooth. Spoon or
scoop ⅓ cup batter into each lined cup, filling it three quarters of the way full.

(You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.)
Place the pans in the oven.

4. Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your
finger, 20 to 23 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire
racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake
liners, lift the cupcakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the

knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them
on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

5. Meanwhile, prepare the Creamy Chocolate Blender Ganache.

the CupcakeDoctor says...

It’s important to soften the cream cheese thoroughly before beginning this

recipe. If the cream cheese is cold, it will lump up in the batter, and no
matter how much you blend, you won’t be able to rid the batter of those
white lumps. Either remove the cream cheese from the refrigerator an hour
before baking, or unwrap it and place it in the microwave for 10 to 20
seconds on high power.
Use whatever milk chocolate you like, but I prefer the old-fashioned
Hershey milk chocolate bar.