Black Forest Cupcakes - chocolate, cherries, and whipped cream - these Black Forest Cupcakes are a mini version of the classic dessert you know and love, but made easier to enjoy at home.
Reader Review:
These cupcakes are so delicious!! I added a bit more amaretto after pulling the liquid from the cherries for the soak and didn't regret it 🙂 My friends and family absolutely adored them as well!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Ashley
This Black Forest Cupcake recipe takes all the flavors of a traditional Black Forest cake and turns them into perfectly portioned cupcakes that are soft, moist, and packed with cherry-chocolate goodness. The chocolate sponge is rich but tender, the cherry filling is juicy and slightly boozy (optional, of course), and the homemade whipped cream topping is light and smooth.
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Why You'll Love These Black Forest Cupcakes
- An easy, portable version of a classic, favorite dessert.
- Make the filling and soak all in one go - with or without alcohol
- Authentic flavor, easy recipe.
Ingredients for Black Forest Cupcakes
- Flour - All-purpose flour (plain flour) will work best in this recipe.
- Cocoa Powder - For best results, use Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Other cocoa powder will do, but the cupcakes may be slightly denser.
- Sugar - White granulated sugar (caster sugar) is used for both the cupcakes and the cherry syrup/filling.
- Eggs - Use large eggs, and always free-range if you can.
- Vegetable Oil - I use vegetable oil, but any flavorless oil will do, such as canola oil or sunflower oil.
- Milk - Whole milk is best for fluffy cupcakes, but you can use whatever milk you have on hand.
- Vanilla - Use vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
- Cherries - You can use canned cherries, frozen cherries or fresh cherries (just make sure you remove the pits!)
- Cherry Brandy - Traditional Black Forest Cake uses Kirsch, you can use Kirsch or cherry brandy, whichever you prefer. Or leave out the alcohol entirely.
- Amaretto - I love the flavor that Amaretto adds to this recipe, but again it is optional.
- Whipping Cream - You must use heavy cream, heavy whipping cream or double cream so the fat percentage is high enough to make a stable topping.
- Powdered Sugar - This will help to stabilize the whipped cream, as well as adding a touch of sweetness.
See recipe card for quantities and full recipe.
Measuring Ingredients
I always recommend weighing your ingredients with a kitchen scale, rather than using measuring cups. It's very difficult to measure accurately with cups and this can mess up your bakes.
What kind of cherries should you use?
The short answer here is - whatever you can get your hands on. Most supermarkets have the cans of pitted cherries which are absolutely ideal. They should say 'sweet dark cherries' or something along those lines. But as we are going to turn them into a delicious Black Forest Cupcake filling, you can also use frozen cherries or even fresh ones. Just don't use maraschino cherries (the bright red ones in a jar). They should definitely be dark cherries - preferably sweet, not sour.
If you are using frozen cherries: You will just need to add about 1 cup of water and ⅓ cup of sugar to your cherries when adding them to the saucepan and heat them for longer. You want the cherries to be very soft and starting to look a little mushy before removing the liquid.
If you are using fresh cherries: Start by pitting the cherries and removing any stalks. Then add them to the saucepan with 1 cup of water and ⅓ cup sugar and continue the recipe as normal.
Recommended Equipment
- Saucepan
- Cupcake pan
- Cupcake Corer
- Electric Whisk
How To Make Black Forest Cupcakes
There are three elements to this Black Forest Cupcake recipe - the chocolate cupcakes, cherry filling, and sweetened whipped cream.
Make the Chocolate Cupcakes
The base of this black forest cupcake recipe are these beautifully moist chocolate cupcakes; they are so easy to make in just a few quick steps.
Prepare
Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C and line a cupcake pan with paper liners. Sift all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
Add Wet Ingredients
In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, milk, and vegetable oil together, then add to the dry ingredients and whisk until combined.
Add Hot Water
Add the hot water (with an optional teaspoon of instant coffee to enhance flavor) and mix until combined.
Bake
Fill the cupcake liners about ¾ full with batter and bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Make the Cherry Filling
The sweet cherry filling is arguably the best part of this cupcake! It's real cherries in an irresistible sweet and boozy syrup that soaks right into the cherry flesh. It's so hard not to just eat this all right out of the pan!
There are two 'cherry' parts to my Black Forest Cupcakes. First of all, the cherry soak, which is soaked into the chocolate sponge. Then the cherry filling in the middle of the cupcakes. The good news is you can make both at the same time.
- Pour the can of cherries and all the liquid into a saucepan and heat over medium heat. (If using fresh or frozen cherries, add 1 cup water (240ml) and ⅓ cup sugar (66g)).
- Bring to a boil and let it bubble for about 3 minutes, then add the cherry brandy and amaretto (or alcohol substitutes - see the section below).
- Let it bubble for another minute, then siphon off most of the liquid mixture into another container, leaving cherries and a little liquid in the saucepan (about ¼ cup)
- Taste test the liquid you took out of the pot and add more alcohol if desired. Leave to cool; this will be the soak for the sponge.
- Add sugar to the cherries and stir. Continue to boil until the liquid is reduced to a thicker, more syrupy texture.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. It's even better if you can leave them overnight to soak up the flavor.
Assemble and Decorate
- Core out the center of the cooled chocolate cupcakes with a cupcake corer or knife. (An apple corer will also work here!)
- Spoon two whole cherries into the middle of each cupcake, along with the thick syrup around them.
- Take the thinner cherry syrup and spoon, pour or brush on top of the chocolate cupcakes, letting it soak into the sponge. Be generous with the soaking, you want about 1-2 tablespoon of soak going into each cupcake. It's best to do this over a baking tray as there will likely be some leaking.
- Whip the cream up to medium peaks, along with the powdered sugar and a dash of vanilla. Pipe it on top of the cupcakes and decorate with chocolate shavings, a fresh cherry, and some leftover cherry syrup.
Black Forest Cupcakes Variations
Want to make Black Forest Cupcakes but don't want to do it completely from scratch? Here are some shortcuts you can take to still enjoy these tasty treats and spare yourself some of the work!
Amarena Cherries - If you don't want to make the cherry filling from scratch, Amarena cherries are a close match for what this filling tastes like. You can get them in many larger grocery stores or specialist food stores. They have a thick, sweet syrup around them which adds a ton of flavor. The OG Amarena cherries can be a little on the pricey side, so you can use your favorite brand of cherries here instead.
Cool Whip - You could use Cool Whip or some other kind of whipped cream topping instead of homemade whipped cream, although making your own whipped cream really does taste better and doesn't take as long as you think! You also don't need to pipe your whipped cream on; you could just dollop it on with a spoon.
Alcohol Free - If you would prefer to make Black Forest Cupcakes without alcohol, you can replace the alcohol with a few pumps of cherry coffee syrup and almond coffee syrup instead.
Storing Black Forest Cupcakes
As the Black Forest Cupcakes contain fresh fruit and are topped with whipped cream, they will need to be stored in the fridge. Keep them in the fridge in an airtight container for 1-2 days.
Black Forest Cupcakes FAQs
While Black Forest Cake is traditionally boozy, you can absolutely make an alternative without alcohol. The alcohol I chose for these Black Forest Cupcakes was Cherry Brandy and Amaretto, as I like the flavor they create, but you can achieve this without alcohol!
The easiest substitution is to try and get cherry-flavored coffee syrup - a lot of places will sell these for at-home baristas. This would replace the cherry brandy. Then for the amaretto flavor, you can get amaretto syrup or even almond syrup will do the job. If substituting the alcohol for syrup though, just use a few pumps of syrup rather than the quantities of alcohol in the recipe!
Please note - the liquid in the can of cherries on its own will not be flavorful enough to make a 'Black Forest' flavor.
More Cupcake Recipes
Looking for some cupcake inspiration? Try some of these recipes:
Recipe
Black Forest Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups All-purpose Flour 188g
- ⅔ cup Cocoa Powder 65g
- 1 ½ cups Granulated Sugar 300g
- 1 ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 Large Eggs
- ½ cup Vegetable Oil 113g / 120ml
- ¾ cup Whole Milk 180g / 180ml
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ⅓ cup Hot Water 80g / 80ml
- 1 can Sweet Pitted Dark Cherries* 15 oz / 425g
- ½ cup Cherry Brandy* 120ml (optional)
- ¾ cup Amaretto* 180ml (optional)
- 3 tablespoon Granulated Sugar
- 3 cups Whipping Cream 720g / 720ml
- ½ cup Powdered Sugar 60g
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Chocolate Curls to decorate
- 18 Fresh Cherries
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C and prepare line a muffin pan with cupcake cases
- Sift all the dry ingredients for the cake into a large bowl and stir together1 ½ cups (188 g) All-purpose Flour, ⅔ cup (65 g) Cocoa Powder, 1 ½ cups (300 g) Granulated Sugar, 1 ½ teaspoon (1 ½ tsp) Baking Powder, ½ teaspoon (½ tsp) Salt
- Add the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla and mix everything together until it is combined and there are no lumps.2 Large (2) Eggs, ½ cup (120 ml) Vegetable Oil, ¾ cup (180 ml) Whole Milk, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Add the hot water and continue to mix until totally incorporated.⅓ cup (80 ml) Hot Water
- Pour batter into cupcake cases, the cases should be about ¾ full.
- Bake for 22 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Pour the can of cherries and all the liquid into a saucepan and heat over medium heat.1 can Sweet Pitted Dark Cherries*
- Bring to a boil and let it bubble for about 3 minutes, then add the cherry brandy and amaretto (or alcohol substitutes - see blog post).½ cup (70 ml) Cherry Brandy*, ¾ cup (175 ml) Amaretto*
- Let bubble for another minute, then siphon off most of the liquid into another container, leaving cherries and a little liquid in the saucepan (about ¼ cup).
- Taste test the liquid you took out of the pan and add more alcohol if desired, leave to cool.
- Add sugar to the cherries and stir. Continue to boil until the liquid is reduced to a thicker, more syrupy texture.3 tablespoon Granulated Sugar
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. It's even better if you can leave them overnight to soak up the flavor.
- Whip cream with a stand mixer or electric whisk until it begins to stiffen.3 cups (720 ml) Whipping Cream
- Add icing sugar and vanilla and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.½ cup (60 g) Powdered Sugar, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Core out the middle of the cupcakes using either a cupcake corer or a spoon.
- Soak the cupcakes with the cherry soak. You can either spoon it, pour it or brush it on. It's best to do this over a baking tray as they may leak a little.
- Let the liquid soak in for a minute, then soak them all again - you want to be generous with the flavor here! (About 1-2 tablespoon per cupcake).
- Take the cherries in syrup and put one or two into the core of each cupcake with a little syrup.
- Top cupcakes with whipped cream - you can use a piping bag as I did, or you can just spoon it on for a more rustic look.
- Top with some chocolate shavings and a fresh cherry (remember to remove the stone from the cherries!).Chocolate Curls, 18 Fresh Cherries
Gina
How do you siphon off the liquid?
Jules
Just pour some of it out into another bowl 🙂
Gina
thank you
Ashley
These cupcakes are so delicious!! I added a bit more amaretto after pulling the liquid from the cherries for the soak and didn't regret it 🙂 My friends and family absolutely adored them as well!
Jules
Hi Ashley,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment - it made my day!
So happy you and your family enjoyed the cupcakes! Thanks for trying my recipe 🙂