Cupcake Test 11, "Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Swirl"

This week's test cupcake is the Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Swirl.  Unlike most of the other recipes in the book, this one is a made from scratch cupcake and not just a modified cake from a box.  Not that there's anything wrong with cake from a box, as the reviews will tell you.  I actually looked online for errata and hints though, as the chocolate cake part has no eggs in it, and vinegar?  Seems the book was right though and this turned into one of the most appreciated cupcakes of the near dozen so far.

Process Notes:  I used Nestle baking coco for the chocolate, and my unfrosted cupcakes came out of the oven looking, well, a bit on the anemic side.  They were light brown and the sugar in the recipe gave the crust a nice crunch.  The vinegar acts with the baking soda to help the cupcakes rise and disappears in baking.  I used regular sized semi-sweet baking chips in the cheesecake portion of the "swirl".  I had more than enough of the cheesecake mixture to put in the cupcakes, but ran a bit light on the chocolate.  Also, I wish I had swirled the cupcakes with a knife pre-baking.  Since "without frosting, it's a muffin and not a cupcake" in the words of my hubster, I made a batch of the cream cheese frosting to swirl on top.  Even with the hugs & kisses, I wasn't able to frost 4 of the cupcakes.

Tasting Notes:  Me - I think the texture of these was more brownie than cake, more cake than brownie.  The flavor was actually quite chocolate, in spite of the anemic looking cupcakes and the cheese cake was a nice hit.  The cream cheese frosting enhanced the cheesecake swirl and made it really pop. 

Mark - loved these.  But I'm not getting real commentary from him besides "Yummy" these days.  His work place devoured them and a couple of them thought they were at least in the top two of those they remember.