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Black Forest Cupcakes are a single serve version of the popular layer cake – homemade chocolate cupcakes filled with tart cherry compote and topped with stabilized whipped cream frosting. These are showstopper cupcakes and so good!
This recipe is sponsored by the Cherry Marketing Institute. All opinions are my own.
You might say, but wait Dorothy, cherries are a summer fruit! And sure, they are, but you can make Black Forest Cupcakes all year long when you use U.S.-grown Montmorency tart cherries! They’re harvested in the summer but then sold frozen or canned all year long.
These easy cupcakes start with my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe and are filled with an easy tart cherry filling and then I topped them off with whipped cream topping – it’s like eating a classic Black Forest Cake in cupcake form and they’re delicious!
Important Ingredients
- Cocoa: I don’t recommend using dutch-processed cocoa in this recipe (it’s only been tested with unsweetened cocoa powder. Dutch Process Cocoa can interfere with baking soda, so don’t risk it.
- U.S.-Grown Montmorency Tart Cherries: If you can’t find a fresh cherry, you can find these in the frozen section or canned. I love supporting local farmers, so I love using these cherries!
- Kirsch: This is a clear cherry brandy that is traditional in any Black Forest Cupcakes recipe. It’s added to the compote and often people soak the cake with it too.
How to make Black Forest Cupcakes
First you need to make the compote:
1. Add cherries and sugar to a saucepan and cook over medium heat until they start to pop and thicken.
2. Once they’ve cooked, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract, kirsch (if using) and I also love adding a few drops of almond extract.
Next, you have to make the cupcakes. This recipe is derived from my chocolate cake:
3. Whisk all the dry ingredients (granulated sugar, all-purpose flour, etc) in a large mixing bowl.
4. Whisk all the wet ingredients (buttermilk, egg, oil, etc) in a large bowl. Then combine the two.
5. Place the cupcake batter in muffin pans lined with cupcake liners. Bake in a preheated oven until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Make the whipped cream frosting using cream cheese, powdered sugar, and heavy whipping cream. You can use a hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until stiff peaks form.
Then it’s time to assemble the cupcakes!
7. To make a hole in the cupcake, use a sharp knife to cut a round in the center and pull out the section (or use a cupcake corer).
8. Fill the cupcake with the tart cherry sauce and replace part of the cupcake you removed. Then frost and top with a cherry and chocolate shavings.
Expert Tips
- While you could just use cherry pie filling, taking the time to make the tart cherry compote with is worth it – it’s traditional in black forest and tastes SO good!
- I love using U.S.-Grown Montmorency Tart Cherries because they’re always fresh: they’re picked at the peak of ripeness in summer and quickly dried, frozen, canned, or bottled. They’re ruby-red and pack a punch of bright, tangy and intense flavor and you won’t be able to stop at one bite. We always have tart cherry juice in our fridge too – I’m not a doctor but it helps with exercise recovery, heart health, sleep, arthritis, and gout. Visit choosecherries.com for recipes and nutrition research.
- I frosted the cupcakes with a piping bag and a large open round tip but you can use any tip you like.
FAQ
Besides the cherries and all that, black forest desserts have Kirsch in the filling and also soaked into the cake.
Since the Kirsch is added after cooking, the alcohol doesn’t bake out. You can omit or use tart cherry juice for a non-alcoholic substitute.
Black Forest Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
Cherry Filling
- 2 cups tart cherries plus more for topping (see note)
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons kirsch optional (see note)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 drops almond extract
Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (27g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ¼ cups (155g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (60ml) vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup (119ml) buttermilk
- ½ cup (119ml) hot water
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped Cream Frosting
- 8 ounces (226g) cream cheese softened
- 1 cup (113g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (474ml) heavy whipping cream, cold
- Chocolate shavings for garnish
Instructions
Cherry Compote Filling:
- Pick out 12 cherries that look the best, reserve for decoration.
- Place cherries in a medium saucepan and add sugar. Cook over medium heat, partially covered, for about 8-12 minutes, stirring frequently, until the mixture is slightly thickened, and cherries are soft.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and almond extracts and kirsch, if using. Transfer to a bowl and cool until room temperature before filling cupcakes.
Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare cupcake pans with liners or grease and flour cake pan(s).
- Whisk together sugar, cocoa, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and flour in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla in a large measuring cup or bowl.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Whisk in hot water. Batter will be thin.
- Divide into cupcake pans lined with cupcake liners (about ¼ cup per cupcake). Bake approximately 12-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Cool completely before frosting.
Frosting:
- Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth and thick using a hand or a stand mixer (use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer).
- While mixing on medium-high speed, slowly add the heavy whipping cream. Continue whipping until the frosting forms stiff peaks. It’ll resemble whipped cream but be thicker.
Assembling:
- Cut out a bit of the center of each cupcake. Fill with filling. Replace part of the cupcake.
- Frost with whipped cream frosting.
- Top with a reserved cherry, some juices from the compote, and some chocolate shavings.
Recipe Notes
- Cherries: You can use fresh or frozen tart cherries. If using fresh it will just take a bit longer to cook them down into the compote.
- Kirsch: This is a clear cherry brandy that is traditional in Black Forest Cake. It’s hard to find and it’s expensive, so you do not have to use it. You can omit, or use another alcohol, like rum or amaretto.
As a Pastry Chef and Culinary Arts Instructor, one of the first cakes I teach is a Genoise. Black Forest Cake is made with a Chocolate Genoise, a Kirsch-infused dark cherry filling, and frosted with Kirsch-infused whipped cream (no cream cheese). Stabilizing the whipped cream with Agar-Agar Powder makes it hold up on a Black Forest Cake. When I was the Pastry Chef at Ramada Inn, I had to put a Black Forest Cake on the Dessert Cart at dinner time. I also won a Gold Medal and Best of Show Trophy with a Black Forest Cake at a Culinary Salon.