Mega Trip: Switzerland- Swiss Dark Chocolate and Cheesecake Cupcakes with Swiss Dark Chocolate Swirl Buttercream

I realize that it's been absolutely forever since my last cupcake post. Cupcakes have definitely been missing from my home (and tummy!) for too long. Not to make excuses, but I've been away from home with work travel and vacation for long periods. Most recently vacation, so I can't complain too much.


My husband always plans the best vacations for our anniversary! This year was not only the best, it was Mega! Because it was the longest vacation we've ever taken with the most destinations planned and because we were planning this trip with two of our very good friends-it couldn't be called an ordinary vacation-but appointed Mega Trip! We were fortunate to spend 3 weeks abroad to visit Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. We had many adventures travelling by plane, train, metro, and bus. Rather than tell you about all destinations at once, I've decided to make a cupcake that represents each stop on Mega Trip.

With Zurich the first destination, I had to think of my Swiss experience as a cupcake. One of the things that I was most excited about my first trip to Switzerland was of course, the chocolate. Well known for their decadent chocolate, I knew I couldn't leave without picking up a bar (or two). We got the scoop from the locals which brands were the favorite. To our surprise, a recent city poll revealed the most enjoyed is from a local grocery store, Migros. We quickly found a Migros store and bought a selection of dark and milk chocolates. The price could not be beat and it was tasty! And another recommended brand and even more delicious in my opinion, is Sprungli of which will be a dominant flavor in my Swiss Cupcake.

One of the most memorable day trips was when we took the train from Zurich to Engleburg. Engleburg is a typical swiss ski chalet mountain resort town surrounded by the Uri Alps of central Switzerland. I can't adequately describe how absolutely gorgeous it was! They have this intricate system of cable cars to go up mount Titlis (~10,000ft) of which we took only part of the way to do some hiking, boating, and questing.

Questing? Yes. My husband was on a quest to find authentic Swiss cheese straight from the factory. I call it a quest because by no means would we leave without visiting the cheese factory and it took us quite a while to find it. Or so we thought it was a factory. As we were following the signs that we thought had a cheese wheel pictured next to it and going down hilly cart driven roads, we heard a beautiful chorus of bells on the wind. It wasn't until the cows were up close that we noticed they all had large cow bells around their necks that rang with every movement. Wow what a different world we had stumbled into!

On just about the end of the road we came to a farm. Could this be it? I was skeptical. No little shop with assorted cheeses, no storefront. A farm! We went down to some door and asked if we could buy cheese as to which the farmer replied, "Yes but be quick," and led us into his 'factory'. Basically a couple of rooms where he makes huge wheels of cheese. I quickly booked it out of there (you can't image the smell. Phew!). I couldn't help but laugh when my husband came out a few minutes later with a big smile holding two wedges of mild and sharp cheese! Wow what a difference fresh from the farm makes. Totally worth it! Yum!

With that adventure, how could I not incorporate cheese into a chocolate base? For Mega Trip: Switzerland, I present the Swiss Dark Chocolate and Cheesecake Cupcake topped with a Swiss Dark Chocolate Swirl Buttercream.

I decided to adapt the high altitude chocolate cupcake recipe from an earlier post and add a cheesecake filling adapted from Budding Baketress. I like how she swirled the frosting so I did too.











Swiss Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
preheat oven to 350 degrees

3/4 cup unsalted butter, divided and softened
4 oz Dark Swiss Chocolate chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup hot water
1 1/2 cups caster sugar, divided
8.75 oz all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 egg yolks

1. Combine chocolate and water in a double broiler over the stove. Stir with rubber spatula until melted.
2. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and stir until thick and glossy. Set aside and cool completely.
3. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
4. In small bowl, combine buttermilk and vanilla. Set aside.
5. In a stand mixer, whisk eggs until combined. Add remaining sugar and whisk on high until fluffy and lighten in color. (about 2 minutes)
6. Using the paddle attachment, add chocolate mixture and mix on medium until combined. (about 30 seconds)
7. Add butter one tbsp at a time, mixing about 10 seconds between them.
8. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by 1/2 of the buttermilk mixture until just combined. Repeat with 1/2 of flour mixture, followed by the remaining buttermilk, followed by the remaining flour mixture until just combined.
9. Prepare Cheesecake Filling.

Cheesecake Filling

adapted from Budding Baketress

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

1 egg

1/4 cup caster sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

6 ounces dark chocolate chips

1. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. 
2. Add egg, vanilla, and salt and mix until combined. 
3. Stir in chocolate chips.

Fill each cupcake liner about 1/3 of the way full. Add about a nice scoop of cheesecake mixture, then spoon more cupcake batter over the top until cheesecake is covered and the liner is filled about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 15 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

Swiss Dark Chocolate Swirl Buttercream
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp whipping cream
4 oz Swiss Dark Chocolate melted and cooled

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream softened butter, salt, and vanilla. Mix well.
2. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time alternating with 2 tsp of whipping cream. Add more cream or powdered sugar to achieve desired consistency.
3. Divide in half. Add melted chocolate to one half. Add more cream or powdered sugar to achieve desired consistency.
4. Fill pastry bag with large tip and frost cupcakes.