Happy New Year everyone!

I trust you had a wonderful festive season and are all geared up for 2011. I think that this is going to be a very busy year for me. It's not that I've put new year's resolutions on a list somewhere, it just feels like it will be.

For starters, I really want to post new articles on my site more frequently. Since I started working last year I haven't had as much free time, as you can imagine, so I haven't been posting new recipes at the same rate as when I started my site.

I think the problem is that when I do think of recipes to put up, they're normally time consuming and/or something sweet. So either I don't have the time or I want to avoid having temptation around the house. (This will be a year of better eating!)

So, I'm going to start posting simpler recipes in between the normal ones. This recipe, although it is sweet, it's also really simple. But don't be fooled, sometimes it's the easiest recipes that are the best.

I'd never heard of black bottom muffins before but a friend had asked me if I could make them. They're one of his favourites and he hadn't had them in a while. When I looked them up they didn't seem like anything special. A simple chocolate sponge with a dollop of cheesecake on top.

They also didn't look like anything special. Kind of messy, all imperfect and not even a pretty swirl of frosting to make them more appealing.

Oh well! I thought I'd give them a try anyway, after all, I had promised to make them.

Boy was I surprised when I had my first one. Where they're not pretty, that's made up by the taste. I don't know why the combination of chocolate sponge and baked cheesecake works so well, but it does. They're not overly sweet so will make a lovely weekend breakfast treat, straight out of the oven would be even better.

The original recipe has chocolate chips in the cheesecake batter, but what I decided to do was to lose the chocolate chips and drizzle some melted chocolate on top instead, for appearance really. You could do either, or both! In fact, I think that these would be really good with a few fresh raspberries baked into the cheesecake. Yum!

Fresh out the oven or saved away as a treat for the afternoon, black bottom muffins are easy to make and oh so tasty!

Enjoy!

Ingredients

Makes 12 muffins

Cheesecake Filling

225g Cream Cheese (8oz block), slightly chilled (out the fridge for an hour or so)

1/3 cup Granulated Sugar

1 Egg

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

60g Dark Chocolate Chips (optional)

A few squares Dark Chocolate for drizzling (optional)

Chocolate Sponge

1 1/2 cups Plain Flour

1 cup Granulated Sugar

1/3 cup Cocoa

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1 cup Water

1/3 cup Sunflower/Canola/Vegetable Oil

1 Tbsp White Vinegar

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted)
Line a 12 cup muffin pan with liners

Beat cream cheese until smooth
Add sugar, egg & vanilla then beat until combined
Mix in chocolate chips if you're adding them
Set aside

Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt
In a small bowl or jug, combine water, oil, vinegar and vanilla
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it
Stir to combine and mix until smooth
Tip: I find it easiest to use a whisk instead of a wooden spoon

Divide chocolate batter evenly between cupcake liners
Drop a spoonful of the cheesecake batter on to the chocolate batter in the middle
Bake for 25-28mins, until the top is slightly golden and cupcake is springy to the touch
Cool on a wire rack in the pan for about 5 mins then remove muffins and cool completely on a cooling rack
Drizzle with melted chocolate (optional)
Tip: Or eat them while still warm with a cup of coffee!!