Mini chocolate-chocolate cupcakes with raspberry and caramel filling
Holly over at PheMomenon is hosting a Blogging For Babies event called Little Wonders. Holly is raising money for the March of Dimes March for Babies in honor of her son Cole. Read all about her story on her blog.
The requirements of the event are simply to make something small. Since you all know I love making cupcakes, I thought mini-cupcakes would be perfect. The truth is, I have supported March of Dimes for quite some time myself. My 13 year old sister was also born premature. I was 14 at the time and remember being very scared. I was so scared in fact, that when the entire family went to see her for the first time in the NICU, I refused to go.
My sister has grown into a wonderful teenager girl (is that even possible?) She’s very intellegent and likes to bake just like me. We enjoy baking together when I see her, which unfortunately, isn’t often enough. Here is the most recent picture of us taken last Christmas. Yes, she’s a tall one.
Back to the cupcakes. I used my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe with my favorite chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe (without the chili powder). I made both recipes dairy free (the caramel was not dairy free).
I usually use the cone method to fill cupcakes. I knew this wouldn’t work very well with mini-cupcakes. Instead I used a special cupcake filling tip that came with my piping bag set. It took a while to get the hang of it, but in the end it worked out fine. I filled some with leftover caramel I had and the rest with some leftover raspberry preserves. Both tasted amazing.
Definitely be sure to check out Holly’s story and support her team for the March of Babies.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
That looks so yummy! Can you suggest a good substitute for the cream cheese? I can’t eat dairy….. Also, can I use honey/agave in place of the sugar & corn syrup? Thanks!
beantownbaker — July 11th, 2013 @ 7:54 am
Have you tried the Tofutti “Better than Cream Cheese”? I am lactose intolerant and use that in place of cream cheese. I think the cream cheese is there to enhance the smooth texture of the ice cream. You could just leave it out if you wanted. The corn syrup is there to help it not freeze too hard. Again, you could omit it if you wanted or replace with honey. Let me know how it turns out for you with the substitutions.
I really need an ice cream maker….
beantownbaker — July 14th, 2013 @ 4:15 pm
I can’t believe I lived so long without one…
i’ve done a pistachio ice cream awhile back and it was most definitely amazing. never was into the bright green stuff as a kid, either 🙂