Recipe: Lazy Girl Mini Marble Cupcakes

Last week was the fall kickoff for the youth group at church.   This is my third year as a youth sponsor.   Starting any fall activity with a barbecue seems to be a tradition (there were a lot of barbecues in college, that's for sure).    Thankfully I fall in the N-Z section of the alphabet, so I could bring dessert instead of a side.    As you can tell by the recipes I post here, making salads and veggie sides are not my cup of tea.   Maybe I should take it as a personal challenge to try more side dish recipes....but not today.  I like making mini desserts because they go farther and more people can have a sample.  

I'm classifying these as "lazy girl" for using a mix and for using my leftover frosting to make life easy.  Sometimes lazy and easy and good are all the same thing. 

1 package chocolate cake mix, prepared to box instructions (and here in Colorado, using the high altitude instructions - more flour, less liquid)

Cream Cheese Marble Filling:
6 oz cream cheese, softened (I used reduced fat)
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup coconut

Preheat oven to package instructions.

Put paper liners in your mini muffin tin.   Spoon in chocolate cake batter first, then a small spoonful of marble filling and then top with cake batter.   Mini cupcakes usually bake at half the time of full size cakes, estimate 12-15 minutes, but watch them on the first batch to be sure. 

These were good without frosting, but I just happened to have some of the frosting left over from Chef Dennis's White Chocolate Blondies that I had made a few days before.  Spread a little on top and you are good to go.   How many things have you made in September because it's the start of so many activities?