Black forest cupcakes
Makes: 12
Prep time: 40 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Martin Poole
Black forest cupcakes
These decadent cupcakes are boozy, so perhaps best saved for when the youngsters are tucked up in bed after a night of trick or treating...
Makes: 12
Prep time: 40 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
658Kcal
Fat
28gr
Saturates
14gr
Carbs
92gr
Sugars
76gr
Fibre
2gr
Protein
6gr
Salt
0.3gr
Sarah Akhurst
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst’s recipes
Sarah Akhurst
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst’s recipes
Ingredients
- 1 x 400g jar Taste the Difference morello cherry compote
- 1 tbsp kirsch or other cherry liqueur
- 200ml whole milk
- 125g extra-dark chocolate (at least 72% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp cornflour
- 3 tbsp dark cocoa powder
- 200g dark brown sugar
- 125ml groundnut oil or vegetable oil
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 150g plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
For the buttercream
- 200g unsalted butter, softened
- 400g icing sugar, sifted
- 50g dark cocoa powder, sifted
- 2 tbsp kirsch or other cherry liqueur
- 4 x 15g tubes black gel food colouring (we used Dr Oetker), or see Kitchen tip, right
Step by step
Kitchen tip
The icing darkens over time, so to achieve the deepest colour it’s best to make it 1-2 days before you need to use it. Keep it chilled and bring back to room temperature before piping. If you have concentrated paste food colouring, these are more intense so you will need less. If you don’t want to use food colouring, simply leave the icing without, as a chocolatey-brown.
- For a really deep black colour to the buttercream, make this 1-2 days ahead (see Kitchen tip, above). Whisk the butter until very light and fluffy then add half the icing sugar and beat to combine. Add the remaining icing sugar and cocoa and beat again until fully combined. Whisk in the kirsch then slowly add enough food colouring until you reach the desired colour.
- For the cherry filling, tip the compote into a sieve with a bowl underneath, to separate the whole cherries from the syrup. Weigh out 120g of the whole cherries and stir the kirsch through these. Set aside and pour the strained syrup back into the jar and reserve for other uses (try swirling it through yogurt for breakfast, or spoon over ice cream to make a quick and easy dessert).
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with deep muffin cases. Put the milk, extra-dark chocolate, cornflour, cocoa powder and sugar in a pan and heat gently until the chocolate has melted, stirring. Bring to a simmer and stir continuously until the mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
- Whisk together the oil, eggs and vanilla extract in a jug. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder.
- Add the oil and egg mixture to the chocolate mixture and whisk until fully combined. Finally fold through the flour and baking powder. Fill each muffin case two-thirds full with the mixture, then spoon some of the cherries into the centre, pushing them down slightly. Cover the cherry centre with the remaining cupcake mixture. Bake for 20 minutes, or until risen and an inserted cake skewer comes out without any sticky cake mixture adhering. Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
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Spoon the soft buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe swirls on top of the cooled cupcakes, working from the outside to the centre.To storeThe uniced cupcakes can be frozen. Decorated cupcakes will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
