By Brayden is two hundred and twenty-three weeks old. Eden is one year and twenty-nine weeks. The black bottom cupcakes are small chocolate cupcakes with a cream-cheese-and-chocolate-chip filling baked in.
Sunday I made twelve.
The Sapulpa-Elementary cooking-class continues. The small Wednesday-afternoon rhythm has settled. The small kids are progressing through the small twelve-week curriculum. Tracy Patton has been the small partnership-and-support presence the program needed.
The Pantry Rules cookbook companion has been selling at its small steady-trickle pace. The catering-cookbook continues at its small steady-pace too. The small online-store revenue is the small additional-revenue-stream the catering business has built.
The small Sunday-cooking is now the small family-of-four event. Brayden helps. Eden watches from the bouncer (later from the high-chair). Dustin handles the small dishes-and-cleanup. The small kitchen has become the small family-stage. The small role of the small Sunday-cook has shifted from the small individual-creative-act to the small family-orchestration-act.
The small recipe-archive of the blog continues to grow. The small ten-year-anniversary in March 2026 is the small approaching-milestone. The small five-hundredth-post was in October 2025. The small archive is now in its small thousand-post-trajectory.
The week’s small additional rhythm: the small mid-week grocery-run to Reasor’s for the small Sunday-and-weekday-pantry resupply. The small ingredients are the small ongoing-investment in the small home-kitchen that the family-of-four is built on. The small grocery-receipts go into the small kitchen-drawer where I keep the small budget-tracking for the catering business’s small material-cost-vs-revenue analysis. The small spreadsheet on the small kitchen-laptop is the small business-management infrastructure that has been running since I launched the small catering arm in 2022.
Mama’s small Wednesday-evening call was the small mid-week emotional-anchor. Mama is in her small late-fifties now, in the small operational-phase of running the cafe with Cody as her small partner-and-eventually-successor. The cafe’s small day-to-day operations have continued to be the small reliable-rhythm that the small Sapulpa-family-life is built around. Cody has been managing the small new-staff onboarding. Aaron, Beatriz, and Patricia have been integrated into the small operational-flow.
The small Aunt-Linda Tuesday-visit-rhythm continues. She arrives at the small 2 PM mark. She holds whichever small child needs to be held. She drinks the small coffee I keep ready in the small French press. We talk through the small week’s family-news, the small Roy-update (Roy is in his small mid-late-sixties now, post-macular-degeneration adjustment, fully passenger now with Aunt Linda driving both), the small Harper-and-Hadley update, the small Bristow-cousins news.
The small Sunday-evening publishing-and-archiving ritual continues. The recipe gets photographed at the small three PM kitchen-light-window. The post gets drafted at the small four PM workspace at the kitchen-counter. The post gets the small final-pass-edit at the small five PM. The post publishes at seven PM. The small comments and emails come in across the small Sunday-night-and-Monday-morning window. The small ritual is the small spine of the small Recipe Spinoff blog operation.
The small Pantry Rules cookbook companion has continued to sell at its small steady pace. The small kayleeturnercatering.com online-store carries both cookbooks now. The small revenue from the small books is the small adjacent-stream to the small catering-arm revenue and Dustin’s small auto-shop income. The small three-stream household-financial-shape continues to be the small stable-structure the family-of-four has been building around.
Black Bottom Cupcakes
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 24 cupcakes
Ingredients
- Cream Cheese Filling:
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Chocolate Cupcake Batter:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat & prep. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper cupcake liners and set aside.
- Make the filling. In a medium bowl, beat the softened cream cheese and 1/3 cup sugar together until smooth. Add the egg and 1/8 tsp salt and beat until fully combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and set aside.
- Mix the batter. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, 1 cup sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt. Add the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir until just combined — do not overmix.
- Fill the liners. Spoon the chocolate batter into prepared liners, filling each about halfway. Drop a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture directly into the center of each cupcake.
- Bake. Bake for 23–25 minutes, until the chocolate edges are set and the cream cheese tops are just lightly golden. A toothpick inserted into the chocolate portion should come out clean.
- Cool. Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving. The cream cheese center will set as they cool.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 185 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 26g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 145mg