These chocolate cherry cupcakes are decadent, chocolaty and filled with a sweet cherry filling. My moist, light and fluffy chocolate cupcakes recipe is the base for these cupcakes. While the filling is a sweet cherry filling, topped with a bakery-style vanilla frosting. A drizzle of sweet cherry juice and a fresh cherry makes for a perfect presentation.
This weekend, was the end of the school year and my Aadi finished elementary school. Time sure files with these kids and I find myself constantly complaining that my kids are growing up too quickly.
To celebrate the end of the year, as always, I sent some cupcakes to Aadi's class. These were one of them along with my caramel cupcakes and chocolate marble cupcakes. Needless to say, the kids enjoyed them thoroughly.
Table of Content
About these cupcakes
The cupcake batter I used here is my go-to chocolate cake batter. The simple moist chocolate cake recipe. It has always been my favorite, and now it's also a favorite of many fans on this blog.
The cupcakes are moist, light and fluffy with a tender soft crumb. The yogurt and the hot water in the recipe are what makes them so tender that they easily fall apart.
The recipe itself is simple and easy and needs no mixers or special equipment. Just two bowls and a whisk is all you need to mix the cupcake batter.
I knew I had to share these cupcakes with you because every time I make them they are always a huge hit. My only complaint is that I could not make a video to show you how simple this recipe is.
The cherry pie filling
Whether fruits are in season or not, I always make my fruit fillings from scratch. Why? Because it actually takes only FIVE minutes to make a fruit filling from scratch. So whether you use fresh or frozen it still takes 5 minutes. I’ve shared so many fruit fillings with you for cakes, pies, and desserts – cherry filling, blueberry filling, raspberry filling, strawberry filling, blackberry filling. Yes, just five minutes. In my last recipe for Homemade Cherry Pie, I used this cherry filling too. It's a big hit in our home even with Ziv who is not a big fan of cherries.
The bakery-style buttercream frosting
There is a reason why I chose this frosting for these cupcakes and that's because I sent them to school and I knew that they will be out for a few hours. The temperature here is about 30 C/86 F and sometimes even hotter. This vanilla buttercream works great in hot, humid weather and can sit out for hours without any refrigeration required. The frosting takes of course just five minutes to make and I also have a video that I will share in the recipe card below.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Cherries - I am using fresh cherries for the cupcakes and topping but you could also use frozen cherries.
- Canola oil - Any cooking oil will work as long as it has no flavor. That way it won't affect the flavor of the cupcakes. For example, olive oil has a strong taste, which we definitely don't want.
- Eggs - Always use large size eggs when baking unless specified. The size of eggs varies significantly these days, so as a guide one large egg weighs between 50 to 60 grams.
- All-purpose flour - Yes, regular plain flour (maida) is all you need for these cupcakes. Do not use any self-raising flour as those contain more leavening.
- Cocoa powder - I've used plain Dutch-processed cocoa powder here.
- Sugar - I prefer to use white sugar so it won't alter the color of my cupcakes. And yet, feel free to use the same amount of light brown sugar. I would not recommend using dark brown sugar.
- Yogurt - Yogurt adds a wonderful tender crumb to chocolate cake batters and that's what happens here. The cupcakes are moist and almost ready to fall apart because they are so light and fluffy.
Step by step instructions (pin)
For the cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 160 C / 320 F.
- Line muffin pan with cupcake liners or use baking cups.
Combine wet ingredients
- Combine the eggs, yogurt, vanilla and vegetable oil.
- Use a whisk to make sure the eggs are well incorporated and there are no lumps.
Combine dry ingredients
- Use a bowl large enough for the final batter.
- Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix them well together with a whisk.
Combine wet to dry
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.
- Use a whisk to combine the two slowly so you have a smooth, not lumpy batter.
- Lastly, add the hot water.
- Scoop batter into cupcake liners.
- Drop a pitted fresh cherry in the center of each batter.
- Bake on the center rack at 160 C / 320 F for about 20 to 25 minutes (mine took 20 mins).
- Cook cupcakes completely before frosting.
For the cherry filling
- Place cherries in a saucepan with the sugar, lemon juice, and half the water (¼ cup).
- Heat on low to medium until sugar is dissolved.
- In a separate bowl, combine the remaining water (¼ cup) with the cornstarch. And mix well.
- Add the cornstarch mixture to the cherries mixture.
- Continue to cook on low – the mixture will thicken and look glossy.
- When thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon or spatula it’s ready.
- Cool completely - cooling will thicken the filling some more.
For the frosting
- Cream butter and shortening for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add cornstarch to the hot water and add it to the creaming mixture.
- Continue to cream until it’s a smooth mixture again.
- Add vanilla and combine well.
- Finally, start adding the powdered sugar one cup at a time.
- Once all the sugar is in – whip the buttercream for a good three minutes until light and fluffy.
- Place in a piping bag with a star piping nozzle.
Assemble
- Save some of the juices in the cherry filling to drizzle on the frosting later.
- Core each cupcake to add the filling.
You can use a cupcake corer or a knife to cut a small circle on the top of the cupcake. Remove the center and save the tops for later. - Place a heaping tablespoon of cherry filling in each cupcake and place the top back on.
- Pipe a buttercream swirl on each cupcake
- Drizzle some of the save cherry filling juices on the frosting.
- Top each cupcake with a fresh cherry.
Storage
- These cupcakes will stay fresh for up to three days at cool room temperature, longer if kept in the fridge.
- These can be frozen for a month or more.
Frequently asked questions
There are a few things you can do - we discussed it in this post -- how to avoid cupcake liners peeling after baking.
There are few things you can do to bake similar size cupcakes - we discussed that in detail here - How to bake same size cupcakes.
You can place cupcakes in the fridge for a few minutes to cool them quickly. I like to place them for just 5 to 7 minutes in the freezer.
Never leave cupcakes in the fridge open for long as they will dry out.
I like to bake at 160 - 170 C, or 310 to 325 F, or Gas mark 2 - 3.
Depending on how hot your oven temperature is, cupcakes usually take between 18 to 22 minutes. If your cupcakes bake quicker than 18 minutes or longer than 22 minutes, it's probably best to check if your oven needs calibration.
Perhaps not. Melted chocolate is rather heavy for this light and fluffy batter. But, if you prefer real chocolate I suggest you use my chocolate fudge cupcake batter instead. You can still fill them with cherry filling and my vanilla buttercream frosting.
Yes, you can. Replace ½ the yogurt with cherry puree and continue with everything else the same.
No, I highly recommend you do not. If you don't want these chocolate flavored. I highly recommend you try my Fresh Cherry Cupcakes. These have cherry puree in the batter and are topped with whipped cream buttercream frosting.
To make an eggless version of this chocolate cherry cupcakes use my eggless chocolate cake recipe and keep everything else the same.
What other frostings can I use for these chocolate cherry cupcakes?
Oh, these cupcakes are delicious with just about any frosting. I have shared with you more than 30 different buttercream flavors here on the blog but these are just a few suggestions.
- Velvet American buttercream,
- Vanilla buttercream (eggless).
- Swiss Meringue or Italian Meringue.
- French Buttercream and German buttercream
- whipped cream buttercream frosting.
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Recipe
Description
Ingredients
Cupcake - Dry ingredients
- 1 ½ cup (300 g) White sugar
- 1 ¾ cup (220 g) All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- ½ tsp Baking powder
- 6 tbsp (42 g) Cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
Cupcake - Wet ingredients
- ⅔ cup (160 ml) Vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) Boiling water
- ½ cup (120 ml) Cup yogurt
- 2 Large eggs
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
Cherry filling
- 7 oz (200 g) Cherries
- ¼ cup (50 g) White sugar
- 1 tbsp Cornstarch
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- ½ cup (120 ml) Water
Frosting
- ½ cup (113 g) Unsalted butter
- ½ cup (100 g) Vegetable shortening
- 3 cups (360 g) Powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp Hot water
- 1 tbsp Cornstarch
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- ¼ tsp Salt
Garnish
- 20 Fresh cherries
- ¼ cup (60 ml) Juices saved from the cherry filling
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 160 C / 320 F.
- Line muffin pan with cupcake liners or use baking cups.
- Combine wet ingredients - Combine the eggs, yogurt, vanilla, and vegetable oil.
- Use a whisk to make sure the eggs are well incorporated and there are no lumps.
- Combine dry ingredients - Use a bowl large enough for the final batter.
- Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix them well together with a whisk.
- Combine wet to dry - Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.
- Use a whisk to combine the two slowly so you have a smooth, not lumpy batter.
- Lastly, add the hot water.
- Scoop batter into cupcake liners.
- Drop a pitted fresh cherry in the center of each batter.
- Bake on the center rack at 160 C / 320 F for about 20 to 25 minutes (mine took 20 mins).
- Cook cupcakes completely before frosting.
Cherry filling
- Place cherries in a saucepan with the sugar, lemon juice, and half the water (¼ cup).
- Heat on low to medium until sugar is dissolved.
- In a separate bowl, combine the remaining water (¼ cuwith the cornstarch. And mix well.
- Add the cornstarch mixture to the cherries mixture.
- Continue to cook on low – the mixture will thicken and look glossy.
- When thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon or spatula it’s ready.
- Cool completely – cooling will thicken the filling some more.
Frosting
- Cream butter and shortening for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add cornstarch to the hot water and add it to the creaming mixture.
- Continue to cream until it’s a smooth mixture again.
- Add vanilla and combine well.
- Finally, start adding the powdered sugar one cup at a time.
- Once all the sugar is in – whip the buttercream for a good three minutes until light and fluffy.
- Place in a piping bag with a star nozzle.
Assemble
- Save some of the juices in the cherry filling to drizzle on the frosting later.
- Core each cupcake to add the filling.
- You can use a cupcake corer or a knife to cut a small circle on the top of the cupcake. Remove the center and save the tops for later.
- Place a heaping tablespoon of cherry filling in each cupcake and place the top back on.
- Pipe a buttercream swirl on each cupcake.
- Drizzle some of the save cherry filling juices on the frosting.
- Top each cupcake with a fresh cherry.
Storage
- The cake will stay fresh for up to four days at cool room temperature, longer if kept in the fridge.
- It can be frozen for a month or more.
Recipe Notes
12 tips for baking perfect cupcakes every single time
- Follow the recipe properly with minimum substitutions.
- Always use good quality ingredients.
- Make sure the ingredients are all at room temperature.
- Never over-mix the batter.
- Use a scoop for baking similar size cupcakes.
- Always preheat the oven before baking - a hot oven works best for cupcakes.
- Bake cupcakes at the right temperature.
- Always bake cupcakes on the center rack one tray at a time.
- Never open the oven during baking - no peeking.
- Remove cupcakes from their pan no later than 7 to 10 minutes after baking.
- Store cupcakes properly after baking. Place them in an airtight container at room temperature. Cupcakes dry in the fridge unless wrapped properly with plastic wrap.
- Simple syrup the cupcakes if you don't plan to eat them on the same day.
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
Marisa
These cupcakes are definitely for a special occasion. They are gorgeous and I can imagine just how delicious they taste!! I haven't had a dark chocolate cake in years. I love the idea of the filling plus the cherry on top. Truly creative!!
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Marisa. Yes, these are so delicious
Lois
Love the idea of cherry and chocolate! Yummy!
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Lois.
Denise
This could be the perfect cupcake loved by all. I love the cherry surprise filling!
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Denise. Yes, we love cherries and chocolate together
Jolina
I really love chocolate and cherries together. Cherry season is just beginning here and I cannot wait. PS: these are piped beautifully!
Veena Azmanov
Me too. Jolina. Chocolate and Cherry is always perfect.
Gloria | Homemade & Yummy
I love black forest cake, so I know I would LOVE these cupcakes. They would be the hit of a bbq party for sure. I have a few to host this summer. I need to make some of these.
Veena Azmanov
Thanks Gloria. Me too. Love the black forest cake too. These are so good.
Jo Allison
I love these cupcakes! Gorgeous cherry filling surprise in the middle is my favourite bit!
Veena Azmanov
Mine too Jo, love the cherry filling
Farah
Sounds like the perfect combination of flavors for a lovely treat! Thanks for the great recipe
Veena Azmanov
You are welcome, Farah. I hope you try this one
Mikayla
What lucky kids to have cupcakes like those brought to school! These are way better than any form of cherry cupcakes I've ever had from a store, and I love how easy you make this recipe to follow. Thank you!
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Mikayla. yes, the kids sure enjoyed it very much. Homemade is always better than store-bought
Laura | Wandercooks
Oh yum this sounds incredible and so simple to make! Especially without needing special equipment. Makes it much easier to whip up on a whim on a sunny afternoon. 🙂
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Laura. yes, it is very delicious
Natalie
I love chocolate and cherries together! These cupcakes look so delicious and festive!
Veena Azmanov
Me too, Natalie Love chocolate and cherry combination