It was delicious, light, spongy, cherry flavor with little bits of cherry in the cupcake. It tasted like a gourmet version of the Betty Crocker pink cakes my mother used to make for me for my birthday as a little girl. I normally don't eat the whole cupcake, just the frosting and the cupcake top, but this cake was so tasty, I ate it down to the bottom. The frosting, on the other hand, a cherry buttercream, didn't really do it for me. The cherry flavor was muted and the buttercream too heavy for such a light, summer fruit. I wanted a fizzy cherry soda and this was like a cherry pot roast.
I'd had success with Mary Berry's Cherry Cake recipe but I didn't want to have a huge bundt cake. This week in southern California it's been either in the 90s or so humid it feels like you're laying under a blanket. A cupcake would be just right, so I bought a jar of maraschino cherries and made a batch.
A quick note: why maraschino cherries and not fresh Bing cherries, when I'm such a cherry fanatic? Aside from the fact that Mary Berry, British baking queen, calls for "glace" cherries (read: maraschino here in the states), I don't believe baking Bing cherries or cooking them in any way can preserve that amazing bursting with flavor summer taste and I refuse on principle to cook with them. I've tried cakes, pies, and several preserve recipes--even smoothies, craft soda and juicing--and none of them have tasted like fresh cherries. Until someone shows me a recipe that preserves that fresh from the tree flavor, I'll use maraschino in recipes on principle so I can eat pound after pound of Bing cherries fresh and cold just as they are.
Cherry Cupcakes
7 oz glace cherries (maraschino--a large jar)
8 oz self rising flour (don't have self rising flour? Make your own, 1 c flour to 1/2 tsp salt to 1 1/2 tsp baking powder)
6 oz softened butter
1 lemon, rind only, zested
1 3/4 oz ground almonds
3 eggs
6 oz caster sugar (grind this in your food processor or if you have a flat enough blender well; a consistency somewhere between regular sugar and powdered sugar is the ideal)
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Secondary form of cherry inhalation: straight from the bowl. |
Preheat oven to 350. Fill 24 cupcake tins with cupcake liners. Or fill 12 and eat the remaining batter.
Cut the cherries into quarters. Rinse well, drain well, and dust with 2 tablespoons of the flour.
Measure all remaining ingredients into mixing bowl, mix well for two minutes; lightly fold in cherries. Scoop into prepared cupcake wells. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely on racks.
The texture of these cupcakes is lighter, spongier, and crispier on top than typically dense American cakes, only lightly sweet with an almond flavor that complements the cherries perfectly. As much of a frosting fiend as I am, on a hot night in July, I found I was perfectly happy having these cupcakes completely sans icing or frosting, they were the perfect bite of sweet just on their own, like a cherry sundae. But here are a few recipes I liked for toppings, should you decide they need a little something more.
Mary Berry's Lemon Icing
6 oz icing (powdered) sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Mix together to form a thick paste and drizzle. Sprinkle with slivered almonds and more cherry pieces if desired.
Almond Icing (source: Epicurious)
3 Tbl hot water
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 3/4 c powdered sugar
Mix and drizzle.
Basic Buttercream with lemon zest and cherries (my own)
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups to 4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbl milk
zest from one lemon
five cherries, chopped
Whisk butter with sugar, add vanilla and milk to lighten. Fold in lemon zest. Frost cupcakes and garnish with chopped cherry pieces.
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