Black Forest Cupcakes

Black Forest Cupcakes - a cute, portable twist on the classic Black Forest Cake. Moist chocolate cupcakes soaked in boozy (optional) homemade cherry syrup, filled with two whole cherries, and topped with stabilized whipped cream.

I spent a lot of time in Germany when I was young, visiting my Dad during every school break. I was always so disappointed in German desserts, which tend to be lighter than the desserts at home, and generally have a focus on fresh fruit and cream, which is not what my sweet-toothed self was after. Black Forest Cake, however, combined the fruit and cream with chocolate cake, which is something I could definitely get behind!

Cake soaked in booze sounds like a pretty great idea no matter how you think of it. True to most German desserts - Black Forest Cake can actually be a surprisingly light dessert and isn't as sweet or rich as other kinds of cake - like Chocolate Fudge Cake or Chocolate Espresso Cake.

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love These Black Forest Cupcakes
• Ingredients and Substitutions
• Make the Chocolate Cupcakes
• Sweet Cherry Filling and Cherry Syrup Soak
• Assembly and Decoration
• Shortcuts and Variations
• What kind of cherries should you use?
• Can you make Black Forest Cupcakes without alcohol?
• Equipment
• Storage
• Recipe
• Alcohol-Free Version
• What kind of cherries should you use?

Ingredients and Substitutions

• 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 more dense.
  
• 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 at the bottom o the page for quantities.

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.

Sweet Cherry Filling and Cherry Syrup Soak

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.

1. 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)).
2. 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).
3. Let 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)
4. 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.
5. Add sugar to the cherries and stir, continue to boil until the liquid is reduced to a thicker, more syrupy texture.
6. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. It's even better if you can leave them overnight to soak up the flavor.

Assembly and Decoration

1. Core out the center of the cooled chocolate cupcakes with a cupcake corer or knife. (An apple corer will also work here!)
2. Spoon two whole cherries into the middle of each cupcake, along with the thick syrup around them.
3. 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.
4. 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.

Shortcuts and 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 tonne 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 whipping 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.

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.

Can you make Black Forest Cupcakes without alcohol?

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-flavoured coffee syrup - a lot of places will sell these for at-home baristas. This would replace the cherry brandy. Then for the amaretto flavour 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 flavourful enough to make a 'Black Forest' flavor.

Equipment

• Saucepan
• Cupcake pan
• Cupcake Corer
• Electric Whisk

Storage

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.

Recipe