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Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes Recipe
Yield: 14 cupcakes
- 2 C all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 C cocoa powder
- 3/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2/3 C brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 C sour cream
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 C liquid from a jar of maraschino cherries (I used a jar from Whole Foods with no high-fructose corn syrup)
- 8 oz dark chocolate chips
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa powder.
- In another medium-sized bowl, beat butter and sugar until well combined.
- Mix eggs, sour cream, vanilla extract, and cherry liquid into the wet ingredients.
- Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Divide evenly between 14 cupcake liners.
- Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.
Your Frosting Choices
As I mentioned above, I made two different frostings for these cupcakes: maraschino cherry buttercream (the one that looks white in the photos) and chocolate black cherry cream cheese (the one that looks pink in the photos). While I’m not a fan of buttercream or maraschino cherries, I thought Bride 4.0 would enjoy that option. It turns out that she, like me, preferred the cream cheese frosting. However, since some tasters raved about the buttercream, I am sharing both options.
Maraschino Cherry Buttercream Frosting
Note: Double this recipe if you prefer lots of frosting.
- 1/2 C unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 C powdered sugar (If you prefer a thicker frosting, add more powdered sugar.)
- 5 tbsp liquid from a jar of maraschino cherries
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste (you can use vanilla extract instead, but vanilla bean paste is so much better - read my post on vanilla bean paste for more details)
- 2 tbsp milk
- Mix butter and powdered sugar until the mixture looks like frosting.
- Mix in the cherry liquid, vanilla bean paste, and milk.
- Pipe or spread on cupcakes.
Black Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting
Note: Double this recipe if you prefer lots of frosting.
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 C powdered sugar
- 6 tbsp black cherry jam
- 2 tsp chocolate extract (You can use vanilla extract if you don’t want to buy something special, but the chocolate extract
adds a subtle chocolate flavor while allowing the frosting to remain pink.)
- Mix cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
- Slowly mix in powdered sugar until the mixture looks like frosting.
- Mix in jam and chocolate extract until combined.
- Spread or pipe on cupcakes.
