Chocolate and White Almond Cupcakes with Filling

     Years ago one of my cousins gave me a wonderful recipe for surprise cupcakes.  The chocolate cake was from scratch and the filling was made from cream cheese and had chocolate chips and nuts.  I loved them every time I made them and always got rave reviews.  Then along came my eating disabilities and no more surprise cupcakes.  After some changes, I was able to adapt the recipe so I could eat it and no one seemed the wiser.  The original from scratch cake had cocoa in it so I now use a cake mix.  A chocolate cake mix actually doesn't have that much chocolate in it and doesn't seem to bother me.  I have changed the filling to soy cream cheese and the chocolate chips to non-dairy chocolate chips.  I recently served these at a baby shower.  The mother-to-be was keeping it a secret whether she was having a boy or girl.  The news would be revealed when the guests ate their cupcake and found the center was not white like they expected but pink for the little girl who is on her way.
     The second cupcake I served at this shower was a white cake with almond extract in it and a pastry cream filling which was also tinted pink.  To get the hole in the cupcake after it bakes to put the filling in, use a teaspoon to scoop it out or I found a handy gadget from King Arthur Flour for about $5 which does the job and makes all the holes uniform.
     I used buttercream frosting with almond extract for the frosting, sprinkled surgar crystals over the top and colored sprinkles over one of the cupcakes to distinguish one from the other.

                                                           Chocolate Cupcakes with Filling

1 chocolate cake mix and ingredients to make it
ingredients for favorite frosting
1 8 oz. container soy cream cheese
1 egg
2 tblsp. sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 tblsp. chopped almonds
5 oz. non-dairy chocolate chips

     Mix soy cream cheese, egg and sugar until smooth.  If you are going to add food coloring, carefully add a drop at a time to achieve the desired color.  Add nuts and chocolate chips.
Make cake mix as directed.  Fill muffin pan with cupcake cups 2/3 full.  Top each  with a heaping teaspoon of filling and poke down into batter.  Bake at 350F for about 25 min.  
     When the cupcakes are cool, frost with your favorite frosting.

                                                          White Almond Cupcakes with Filling

1 white cake mix and ingredient to make it
1 tsp. almond extract
 ingredients for favorite frosting
Pastry Cream
1 cup lactose free milk
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tblsp. cornstarch
1 tblsp. stick margarine
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. almond extract
2/3 cup non-dairy whipped cream

     Make cake mix as directed using the 1 tsp. almond extract as part of the liquid.  Bake as directed.
     To make the pastry cream:  using a saucepan over med-low heat, heat milk to barely simmering.  While that is heating, combine egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.  Stir the milk into the egg mixture and then return to pan.  Bring back to a boil, over med-low heat whisking constantly and boil one minute.  Remove from heat and add margarine, vanilla and almond extract.  Stir to melt the margarine.  If you want to color the pastry cream, carefully add a drop of food color a drop at a time until you achieve the desired color,  (I made this several times and not matter how much I whisked, I still had lumps, so I put my mixture in a collander and stirred so I could separate the lumps.  It is an extra step, but at least I didn't have lumps.)
Transfer custard to a bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top to prevent it forming a crust.  When it is cold, mix in the non-dairy whipped cream.  Fill the cupcakes and frost as desired.
     Next week I'm going to share my recipe for Berry Swirl Cheesecake.  It is was the star at the Mother's Day brunch this year.  Until next time.