Black Bottom Cupcakes (for Andrea)

I was first introduced to these cupcakes by my sister-in-law who made them for us a Christmas. They were exquisite. She bought me the cookbook they came from, Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey, and thus I made them for a my friend Andrea's going-away party. I have become a big fan of this cookbook having also made the Gooey Caramel Butter Bars with rave reviews, the Chocolate Mascarpone Cheesecake Pots with Shortbread Spoon, and tonight the Best One-Bowl Chocolate Chunk-Pecan Cookies.

Some notes:
1. I found the cake batter recipe to be a bit small and I could only make 12 cupcakes rather than the 24 that the recipe claims. I doubled the cake recipe and still had enough filling and glaze for the two batches.
2. You can easily substitute cream cheese for the mascarpone.

Ingredient lists
For the filling:
8 oz. mascarpone cheese
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 large egg
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. mini chocolate chips

For the cake batter:
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c. boiling water
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

For the chocolate glaze:
8 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 c. unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
1/4 c. light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup cupcake tins with liners

For the filling: In a medium bowl, cream together the mascarpone, powdered sugar, egg, salt, and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Stir in chocolate chips.

For the the cake batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a 2-cup measuring cup, combine boiling water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid ingredients. Stir together until smooth.

Fill each cupcake cup one-fourth full of batter and top with a heaping tablespoon or so of the filling; divide it evenly and use it all. Top the filling with the remaining batter, dividing it evenly. Bake until cupcakes are puffed and firm, about 25 to 28 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the glaze. Combine all the ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth. If the chocolate isn't completely melted, continue to microwave for 30-second intervals and stir until smooth.

Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool completely. When cool, dip the top of each cupcake in the chocolate glaze. Let the excess drip from the cupcakes for a few seconds and then place the cupcake right-side up on the wire rack until the glaze firms up before serving.

Our adventures in NYC

Rick finished a long project recently so we took advantage of that break and went on a road trip to New York. We stayed at the lovely Parker Meridien on 57th Street and caught up with many friends and restaurants. (As an aside: the Angels baseball team were staying at our hotel too.) There was a lot to do in very little time.

In short, we saw the Little Mermaid on Broadway, shopped, ate out and visited with friends and former co-workers, swam at the hotel, and went on the Toys R Us Ferris wheel. Piper wasn't used to walking that much so she was carried by Rick fairly often. She did awesome at the Little Mermaid, very attentive and well-behaved.

I was nervous about the potty training since I thought that there was no way to keep up the progress we had made. We planned ahead and had Piper wear pull-ups the entire time. Surprisingly she only had one accident and that was when we couldn't get to a bathroom on time during a pit stop on the drive to the city. She's not had such a long dry streak since.

Thanks to all of the many friends that took time to see us and put up with our somewhat crazy schedule. We miss you and hope that we can have many more adventures in the city to come.

Piper and I ate breakfast in Times Square while Rick waited in line at TKTS for Little Mermaid. Bagels anyone?

She seemed to fit right in, even mostly ignoring the noise when a homeless lunatic started ranting and swearing at a table near us.

Piper and I rode this exciting Ferris wheel at Toys R Us. It's hard to get a good photo but we were in the M&M car. Upon exiting the store Piper told Rick that she couldn't walk because she was "so tired from looking at all of the toys."

Barbecue at Virgil's before the show

Intermission at Little Mermaid. There were a lot of kids at the matinee, as you can imagine. Piper sat on Rick's lap most of the second half. Having seen Lion King and Beauty & the Beast before I can say that Disney knows how to do Broadway - the costumes were incredible.

Piper is very fond of all of the free-range pens and scratch pads she can find at hotels. This one was no different.

Piper is watching Popeye cartoons in the elevator on the way to the swimming pool. I love the legs crossed pose. Does she remind anyone else of cousin Tammy hamming it up?

"It's hard to see the show through these sunglasses."

She would have ridden the elevator all day if we had let her.

Another hammy Tammy shot, for sure.

Piper "holding" Mary with some help from Jane and Jamie

It's hard to hold a nine-month old, she's wiggly.

Random shots

Here are some recent photos of our girl. I'll be posting about our New York trip next.

This is Piper playing with princesses with her new friend Jane that she met in New York again. Jane, her sister Mary, and her parents Sam and Jamie were able to visit us on their way to and from Chicago where they'll be moving this summer. Hooray, they found an apartment!

Silly girls

Looking so grown up

I love the pose, so blase. She's such the little model. Piper calls this her pirate shirt.

Inspecting the ants

Easter family portraits

With new Easter outfits for the family, we had a friend take some pictures of us. You can see the best pics here.

For my mom

I know that I still need to post text and pics from our trip to New York last week. While you are waiting I thought I'd share a few nuggets of life wisdom I've gleaned from my wonderful mom over the years.

• Enjoy your kid's childhood; it doesn't last long and you'll miss it when it's gone so take advantage.
• Never stop learning or trying to improve yourself and your talents. (My mom got this from her mom. In her seventies my grandma was trying to learn algebra from a public television course, just for fun. My mom has likewise sought learning and wisdom, be it from learning French and Italian to taking photography courses with a grandson.)
• If you can't be happy on your own, good luck being happy with someone else.
• Learn to love hard work. (Saturday afternoons were much more enjoyable for me after having done all of my chores in the morning.)
• Make sure that the one you marry is also your best friend. (He is, Mom, that's for sure.)
• If you have the opportunity to travel and to learn about other cultures, do it.

I love you Mom. Thanks for being a great mother and teacher to me, and a wonderful example of a loving wife and daughter.