Black Bottom Cupcakes (Made with Honey) – Big Island Bees

This chocolaty and rich cupcake recipe resembles a gourmet Hostess cupcake – cake on the outside filled with a creamy center. The filling contains chocolate chips which melt and ooze when bitten. Even better, no eggs nor sugar are added to these devilish delights! These are also great cupcakes without the filling if you want a nondairy cupcake. The recipe was given to me by our dear friend Roseann Buritz. Roseann was the proprietor of Renaissance Bakery in Hilo for several years in the 1970’s. Renaissance was an extraordinary bakery selling high quality baked goods. The only sweetener used in the pastries was honey. Roseann acquired pure Lehua honey in 5 gallon buckets from my father-in-law, Jim Powers, owner of Powers Apiaries which eventually morphed into Big Island Bees almost half a century later! One of Renaissance Bakery’s staple products were these scrumptious cupcakes. Roseann generously shared her tried and true recipe with us just in time to enjoy them for Halloween. The cupcakes are delicious on their own, but you can cover them with a chocolate ganache or a frosting of your choice.

Ingredients:

MIX DRY:

• 3 cups pastry flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt

MIX WET:

• 1 cup Big Island Bee’s Organic Ohia Lehua honey
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 2 Tbls. mild vinegar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups water

 FILLING:

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until just smooth to make the batter.
3. Beat the cream cheese and honey together until smooth to make the filling. Mix in the chocolate chips
4. Spoon batter into cupcake cups to 1/2 full. Add 1 tsp. of the filling. Spoon a little more batter on top to cover the filling.
5. Bake the cupcakes until done, approximately 15 minutes.