Cherry cupcakes. So if I'm craving cherry cupcakes in March??? And this cupcake recipe is doubly delicious. The cake is sweet and light, but the cherry almond frosting is lick-your-lips cherrylicious.

These cupcakes have a FANTASTIC cherry flavor and even though there is a lot of almond extract used, the flavor does not overpower. My only suggestion would be that you really only need one jar of icing. I had so much icing from two jars that I ended up filling the cupcakes with icing before I iced the top and still threw some away. You can cook Cherry cupcakes using 18 ingredients and 11 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of Cherry cupcakes

It's of For cupcake batter:.
Prepare 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter.
You need 1 1/2 cups of sugar.
You need 2 of eggs.
Prepare 3 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract.
You need 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder.
Prepare 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
It's 2 1/2 cups of flour.
Prepare 1 1/4 cups of milk.
It's 1 (21 oz) of can of cherry pie filling.
Prepare of For Buttercream:.
You need 1 cup of shortening.
You need 1 cup of lightly salted butter, room temperature.
It's 2 Tbsp of meringue powder.
You need 3 tsp of pure vanilla.
Prepare 2 lbs of (about 8 cups) powdered sugar.
You need 4-6 Tbsp of water (depending on consistency desired).
You need 1/4 tsp of table salt.

The cake for these Very Cherry Cupcakes takes an already moist cake recipe and amps it up with some chopped maraschino cherries. The frosting is a delicious cream cheese frosting, lightly flavored with the maraschino cherry syrup that nicely compliments the cake. Spoon generous teaspoon of remaining cherry filling onto center of each cupcake. Frost cupcakes with vanilla frosting, and garnish each one with a reserved cherry.

Cherry cupcakes step by step

For the cupcake: At room tempterature beat unsalted butter at medium speed until creamy. Pour in sugar and beat well. Add 2 eggs one at a time, before adding the next make sure it is well combined..
Add vanilla, baking powder, salt, flour, and milk. Beat until it is smooth..
Take a cupcake baking tray and add cupcake liners and pour the batter into individual baking cups, until they are about 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Should get 24 -18 cupcakes..
For the butter cream: Measure water, put in small cup and add salt. Stir to dissolve..
Mix butter and Crisco on low until combined. Add meringue powder and vanilla extract. Mix on low to combine..
Add powdered sugar gradually, still mixing on low..
Gradually add salted water and mix on low for 1-2 minutes until well combined, scraping paddle and sides of bowl as necessary..
You will need a pastry bag and a tip #48..
I made these cupcakes 2 ways. First one I cut a hole in the top part center of the cupcake and filled it with cherry pie filling and did this with a few i was serving right away the rest i didnt fill..
I took a little bit of brown icing food coloring and dyed the icing a light brown. Then I iced the top of each cupcake. Then i put a spoonful of cherry pie filling and placed in on top..
I filled my pastery bag filled with buttercream and the tip on it. I decorated it like you would see it look like the sides and top of a cherry pie..

This recipe was inspired by my favorite candy, chocolate covered cherries. The cupcakes are full of chocolate flavor and kept moist with the help of oil and butter. The frosting is a simple buttercream that is flavored with cherry preserves. Each cupcake gets a generous filling of cherry preserves and then topped with the cherry buttercream. Place a rounded teaspoonful of pie filling in the center of each cupcake.