The Ovens of Brittany bakery used to sell a chocolate muffin/cupcake with a cream cheese and chocolate chips stuffing, and they were called Farm Cakes. For a while in the 1980s, one of the Ovens bakers managed the bakery at one of the Steep & Brew Coffee cafes, and they sold them, too.
Here’s my version of Farm Cakes, using a hand mixed, mayo-for-shortening, chocolate cake. The best thing to use to mix up the batter is the type of flat whisk shown below – it’s for angel cake, to fold the egg whites in, but it’s also a good all-purpose mixer.
Cake:
2 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup cold coffee (can use decaf)
2 eggs, 1 separated
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1 cup mayo (can use reduced fat)
Combine the sugar and cocoa in a large bowl. Stir the extracts into the coffee, then add about half the coffee mixture to the sugar and cocoa, and mix until smooth. Add the rest of the coffee. Beat in one whole egg and the white of the separated egg, add the mayo, beat till smooth, and then measure the baking soda and salt onto the top of the mixture in your bowl. Pour the flour on top, and mix well.
Filling:
2/3 of an 8-oz. bar of cream cheese (about 6 oz.), softened
2/3 cup of mini chocolate chips
1 egg yolk
A few drops of almond extract (optional)
Place the cream cheese in a bowl, add the chocolate chips, egg yolk, and extract if you’re using it. Mash together.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line about 18 wells in two muffin pans with paper liners. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Drop about 2 tsp of filling into each muffin. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until firm.
Note: It might be wise to grease the tops of your muffin tins, or be sure to loosen the cakes when they are still warm, because in testing these in 2018, using these amounts of batter and filling, I got 20 cakes with significant muffin tops! That is batter that spread over the tops and could stick to the tin.
Originally posted around 2010; based on a recipe from the 1980s
