Cupcake Project #13: Cherry Blossom Cupcakes

Photo courtesy of Sweetapolita.com

One of my fondest childhood memories was being nine years old and deciding to save enough of my money to buy my mother her favorite cherry sour ball candies from Fannie Mae candies. I remember the joy on her face; how much she enjoyed eating them and sharing them with me. I still love cherries and anything cherry flavored. I pinch the cherries off of my friends drinks; I ask for a splash of grenadine in my cokes and now, there are cherry cupcakes inspired by Cherry Blossoms. Check out this recipe by Sweetapolita.com to make your own cherry cupcakes. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Recipe for Cherry Cupcakes : *Makes 2 dozen cupcakes

(Photo courtesy of Sweetapolita.com)                               

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs, separated
2 cups sugar
1 cup whole milk
¼ teaspoon almond extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
1 cup maraschino cherry halves (optional, but I choose not to include)
Few drops red/pink gel food colouring (optional)











Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar until very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Set egg whites aside to be beaten. Add the egg yolks to the creamed mixture, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in extract. Add dry ingredients and milk, by alternating (beginning and ending with dry) until just combined. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites, and the cherries/juice. For pinker cupcakes, add a few drops of pink gel food coloring to the batter.


Using ice cream/cookie scoop, fill white cupcake liners (if doing my decorated version, otherwise any liner of your choice) about 2/3 full. Bake until inserted toothpick comes just clean, about 18-20 minutes, but take care to not over-bake. As soon as you have removed cupcakes from oven, carefully and cautiously (at the risk of stating the obvious, they’re super hot!) remove each of them from pan and place on wire rack.


*Critic's Tip: Frost with a basic buttercream (butter, confectionary sugar and vanilla flavoring) and add maraschino cherries to the mix for a cherry flavoring.


**Original recipe can be found here.