.

This evening we will have ten pre-teen girls descend upon our house for approximately 16 hours.

My twins turn 12 next week so this weekend was chosen for the festivities. And being almost-12-year-olds who love loud music, gobs of makeup, stinky nail polish and friends friends FRIENDS, that means a sleepover party is pretty much mandatory.

So this has been my morning. Between bouts of cleaning (though I’m not doing all of it — the girls aren’t getting off that easily) I’ve been making cupcakes.

These food colorings are the best things ever. I saw Giada use them a few months ago and immediately ordered some. They’re pretty amazing.

I kind of miss the little-girl days of pastel pinks and yellows and greens. Everything now has to be bright and intense and edgy (is purple edgy?).

The only drawback to playing with cupcakes is the clean up. I hate cleaning up.

I debated piping on the frosting but let’s be real. These things will be unwrapped and inhaled so quickly I doubt they’ll even be tasted.

I’m not doing anything fancy for dinner. Everyone likes pizza, right? Especially pizza eaten outside, with paper plates and plastic utensils and not a caffeinated beverage in sight.

Will somebody swing by with the hard liquor? Thank you.

I love the combination of sweet and tangy, especially when it comes to baking. When I saw this recipe for Black Bottom Cupcakes making the rounds last summer, I immediately checked my cupboards to make sure I had the ingredients, thanked the universe that I did, and then made them.

They are very good, but I found that the cream cheese and chocolate seemed to fade into each other, without getting a kick of flavor out of either one. The next time I make these I’m going to play around a little bit and maybe add some sour cream to the cream cheese mix to see if that’ll bring it up a bit.

The cupcakes stayed moist in the fridge with plastic wrap and were devoured within two days. This particular version of the recipe comes from Worth Her Salt.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 c sugar
1/8 t salt
1 c miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c water
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 T cider vinegar
1 t vanilla extract

~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper cups or lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.

~ In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, egg, 1/3 cup sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt until light and fluffy. Stir in the chocolate chips and set aside.

~ In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center and add the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Stir together until well blended. Fill muffin tins 1/3 full with the batter and top with a dollop of the cream cheese mixture.

~ Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

 Print this recipe!