Cherry Covered Chocolate Cupcakes
Instead of chocolate covered cherries, these cupcakes are Cherry Covered Chocolate with Cherry Cheesecake Frosting. They’re fluffy, light, and perfectly pink!
Happy October! I love love LOVE October. Not only does the weather start getting cooler (and I get to wear warm fuzzies), but Halloween is in October and it’s….
NATIONAL BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH!!
As a woman, I cannot say enough about how important it is that we all know about breast cancer, how to detect it, and steps to take to support those with breast cancer. Susan G Komen and KitchenAid have been leaders in this movement to spread awareness about breast cancer. If y’all haven’t seen the KitchenAid Cooking for the Cure series, you really should check them out! I’m loving the hot pink versions and that polka dot bowl in the HHGregg collection? ADORBS!
Oh, wait, you didn’t know that HHGregg has joined forces for good with Susan G Komen and KitchenAid? Well, they have! The more the merrier, I say! Because, you see dear readers, KitchenAid will donate up to $10,000 to Susan G Komen; $1 for every cupcake shared on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #10000Cupcakes. So, that’s why I’ve whipped up these Cherry Covered Chocolate Cupcakes. Just doing my part to help spread awareness of this serious issue through deliciously quirky baked treats.
Now, if you’re not one that’s skilled in the kitchen, you can easily host a Cook for the Cure Party! KitchenAid has some tools to help you raise awareness with your own community, friends, and coworkers. They have direct mail donation forms and online donation forms to make it easy for your party participants to donate to Susan G Komen.
But, seriously, these cupcakes are pretty simple to make! They don’t take too much time. Granted, you have to chill the ganache, but that’s probably the most difficult. It’s just a matter of being able to use a hand mixer; because that’s all I used to make these babies.
After freezing the ganache, these cupcakes came together in less than 15 minutes? That includes measuring the ingredients. Honestly, these are so easy to make that you can have cupcakes on the plate in no time at all.
Now, I just have to share how normal I am. As if you had any doubt. So, there I am standing in the kitchen whipping up the frosting. The next thing I know, there’s cherry buttercream flying all over the kitchen! I turn off the hand mixer (because my KitchenAid is still broken *hangs head in shame*) and notice this; there’s a tine of the whisk that just broken.
How in the world does this happen? Honestly? It’s not that old. Like, maybe 7 years? Is that old for a hand mixer? I have no idea. Though, I am drooling over the pink ones. Just saying. Especially the HOT PINK ONES!! Have you seen those from HH Gregg? They’re so cool.
No matter what color mixer you have, or what color cupcakes you make, I hope you do participate in the #10000Cupcakes movement and tag a photo of your cupcakes with the hashtag. The more people who tag photos on Instagram and Twitter means the more money KitchenAid will donate to Susan G Komen.
Cherry Covered Chocolate Cupcakes
Instead of chocolate covered cherries, these cupcakes are Cherry Covered Chocolate with Cherry Cheesecake Frosting. They're fluffy, light, and perfectly pink for #10000Cupcakes!
Ingredients
- 6 ounces chocolate
- 1/4 cup half and half
- 1 tablespoon cherry vodka
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup maraschino cherry juice
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 egg whites
- Pinch of cream of tartar
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 10 maraschino cherries
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Combine the chocolate and cream in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high 1 minute. Stir. If the chocolate is not melted, heat on high for 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted. Stir in the vodka and refrigerate until firm.
- Roll into 3/4 inch balls and freeze until firm, 3 to 4 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Beat the butter and sugar in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add one egg yolk at a time until incorporated. Then add the milk and cherry and beat until combined. Set aside.
- Combine the flour with the baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
- Using the whisk attachment, lightly stir the egg whites with the cream of tartar in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed 3 to 4 minutes or until soft peaks form. Then beat on high 3 to 4 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- Make a well in the flour mixture. Pour the milk mixture into the dry mixture; stirring until just combined.
- Add 1/4 of the egg whites to the mixture and stir until combined. Fold in the remaining of the egg whites.
- Line 16 muffin tins with cupcake liners and lightly spray with cooking spray. Using an ice cream scoop or cookie scoop, fill the liners 1/3 full, place one ganache ball in the center, then fill with better to 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 13 to 15 minutes or a toothpick inserted in the batter comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan 5 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool complete.
- While the cupcakes are cooling place the cream cheese, butter, cherries, and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl. With a whisk attachment, carefully beat the mixture until the powdered sugar is incorporate. Beat on high 3 to 5 minutes or until the sugar is no longer gritty.
- Using a piping bag, pipe the icing onto each cupcake. Sprinkle with pink sprinkles and serve.
What pretty cupcakes and they look delicious too! I am a sucker for maraschino cherries and I love using the juice in baking too!
Thank you! They were so good. Of course, I’m a sucker for chocolate and cherries together so I might be biased.
I’m so sorry to hear about your hand mixer!! I love the pink stuff too!
Thanks, Wendi! That would be the second mixer I’ve killed.