The Jennifer

Black Forest Cupcake

Happy Birthday Jennifer! I started with wanting to make a German Chocolate cupcake for your birthday, but decided against it. I discovered that German Cake originated in Texas and that simply made no sense. So, being too authentic for that nonsense, I decided on making making a true Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest cherry torte) in cupcake form. But, I didn't have any Kirschwasser. Then I realized I only had Ghiradelli chocolate, and Ghiradelli was Italian. I ate the chocolate to save the cake.

Bottom line is that I did cheat (again) on these cupcakes, and they probably shouldn't be called Black Forest Cupcakes. But they did pass with my taste testers:

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes:

1 pkg. Devil's Food Chocolate Cake Mix
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix wet ingredients together, then stir in cake mix. Bake cupcakes at 350 for 20-25 minutes. I got 20 good sized cupcakes out of this recipe.

Chocolate Frosting (from HERSHEY'S):

1 stick butter
2/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa
3 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. milk (I used about double this amount)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

I whipped some heavy cream, added about 1 tbsp. sugar to sweeten, and topped the frosted cupcake with whipped cream and a cherry. I used a dark sweet cherry (all I had left) for the top but I would recommend using a maraschino cherry.

Jennifer, Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!