Black Forest Cupcakes

When I think of all things chocolatey, no list would be complete without Black Forest Cake, which is traditionally made of layers of chocolate cake, whipped cream, and cherries. My Black Forest Cupcakes version for #Choctoberfest uses dark chocolate cupcakes stuffed with cherry filling, topped with fresh whipped cream frosting, chocolate shavings, and maraschino cherries.

As the Gold Sponsor of #Choctoberfest with Imperial Sugar, Imperial Sugar was kind enough to send quite a bit of sugar my way to use in my recipes, including these Black Forest Cupcakes. (Speaking of #Choctoberfest, don’t forget to enter the giveaway!)

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

• 2 teaspoons espresso powder brewed in 1 cup water
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups Imperial Sugar
• 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whipped Cream:

• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Other Ingredients:

• 1 can cherry pie filling
• Jar of Maraschino Cherries
• Chocolate Shavings

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cupcake tins with 24 cupcake liners. Boil 1 cup water and add 2 teaspoons espresso powder, mixing to combine. Set aside to let cool.

Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to a large bowl, mixing to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture, being sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to fully combine.

Add the espresso mixture, mixing to combine.  The batter will be thin.

Fill the cupcake tins 2/3 of the way up with batter.

Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until a toothpick inserted into one of the middle cupcakes comes out clean.

Set aside to cool completely.

When the cupcakes are cool, make the whipped cream. Add the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract to a large bowl and whip until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes (gradually work up to whipping on high) Refrigerate until ready to use.

Use a knife to cut a hole in the center of each cupcake. You want it big enough to hold about 1 tablespoon filling. Don’t worry about how it looks, it will be covered with frosting.

Add ~1 tablespoon cherry pie filling to each cupcake (I aimed to have about 3 cherries in each cupcake).

Add the whipped cream to a piping bag, or a ziplock bag with one of the lower corners snipped off. Pipe the whipped cream on top of each cupcake.

Top with a maraschino cherry and chocolate shavings.

Each bite gives you a bit of chocolate, whipped cream, and cherry, just like Black Forest Cake!

These little guys are really tasty, especially with the fluffy dark chocolate cake. (The fresh whipped cream and cherries don’t hurt either) 🙂

Check out some of the other yummy #Choctoberfest posts from today below, and don’t forget to enter the giveaway!