FoodMayhem.com

I was reading this post on A Southern Grace, and it reminded me of these amazing marbled muffins, sold at a gourmet market near my high school. They called them muffins, but I think it's technically more of an un-frosted cupcake. It's over 10 years since I've had these muffin/cupcakes and the store is no longer there so I decided to make something like it, myself. This recipe uses the cream cheese swirl from Grace's recipe and the cake batter is an improvement on the Chocolate Zucchini Cake I wrote about.

Chocolate Cheesecake Marbled Muffins
~makes 24

Cream Cheese Mixture

• 1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Chocolate Batter

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 3 cups grated zucchini

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (300 degrees F with convection) and place line muffin tins with muffin paper.
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
3. Gradually add the sugar and beat until well blended.
4. Beat in the egg and then mix in the flour. Set aside.
5. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add the eggs and oil and mix well. Fold in the zucchini. Reserve 1 1/2 cup and set aside.
6. Spoon chocolate batter in to muffin cups, about 2/3 full. Drop a tablespoon of cream cheese mixture into each muffin cup and then top with a tablespoon of the reserved chocolate batter. By now, the cupcake tins will look very full so you can try to swirl with a knife carefully but not necessary.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out pretty clean. It's ok if there is cream cheese mixture on the toothpick but not wet chocolate batter.
8. Cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tin. Remove muffins to a cooling rack and completely before eating. I know this is difficult but try!

Note: This chocolate batter looks a little weird so don't worry. The oil may also start to separate as it sits. Just mix it back in.


I have to admit, these cupcakes aren't 100% perfect, because the cupcake papers get a bit oily. There's even oil left in the tins when you take the cupcakes out. I will try these next time with less oil but I decided to post this recipe anyway, because Lon and I agree, these are freakin' delicious (that's a technical term)!

posted by Jessica@Foodmayhem at 7:02 PM 9 Comments add a comment