Black forest Bourbon cupcake recipe

Black forest bourbon cupcakes....the name itself sounds enticing. These delicious wintery desserts are sure to put a fire in your belly and a zing on your taste buds! I adapted this recipe from  bestfriendsforfrosting.com , using my own standard chocolate cupcake recipe and tweaking the frosting a bit. I love the idea of using  alcohol in my cupcakes, as they enhance the flavour significantly. What makes these cupcakes extra special is the homemade cherry and bourbon jam filling tucked away in the middle. YUMO! 

Black Forest Bourbon Cupcake recipe

Chocolate cupcakes

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Line two muffin trays with cupcake papers. 

Ingredients

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon instant coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water

2 tablespoons bourbon

1 cup warm water 

2 cups plain flour, sifted

1 3/4 cups castor sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bi carb soda

1 cup 100% pure cocoa (Woolworths Home brand)

Method

1. Using a hand whisk, combine eggs, oil, vanilla.

2. Add sour cream,water with coffee and bourbon.

3. In a separate bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarb soda. Add cocoa. Mix until combined.

4. Pour wet mix into dry mix and carefully hand whisk together until well combined.

5.Scoop mixture into prepared papers.

6.Bake for 18-20 minutes or until firm to touch. 

Cool on a wire stand. 

Bourbon cherry filling

450g tin pitted cherries

1/2 cup castor sugar

2 tablespoons bourbon

1. Blend cherries with juices until completely smooth. 

2. Place in a saucepan on medium heat, bringing puree and sugar to simmer. Cook until mixture is reduced to half. Stir often.

3. Reduce heat to low. Cook until the mixture is like jam

('jelly' for Americans), stirring often.*

4. Stir in bourbon and leave to cool completely.  

* Note: This step takes a reeeeally long time! Like around an hour and a half!! Could have been me, but this took way longer than I expected. Not wanting it to burn, I stayed with it and listened to two of my children read from the kitchen! In the end it eventually looked a bit like jam, so I just took it off the heat and let it cool. Worked out fine. There may be an easier way, but I don't know it yet. 

Once the jam has cooled, carefully cut a 1 inch hole in the top of  each cupcake and fill with  a teaspoon of cherry bourbon jam. Reserve 2-4 tablespoons of jam to put into the frosting.

 Replace the lids and decorate with cherry icing.

Vanilla cherry frosting

125g butter, softened

125g cream cheese, cold

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-4 tablespoons cherry jam

Approx 2-3 cups icing (powdered)sugar

Dashings of cream

Red food gel paste if desired.

Method

1.In an electric mixer, beat butter on high until smooth and creamy, about two minutes. Add cream cheese and continue to beat until light and fluffy. 

2. Turn mixer down to low and add icing sugar, a little at a time. Add cream as needed, a few tablespoons at a time.

3. Add cherry filling. Continue to add icing sugar until frosting reaches the desired consistency.

4. Add red food colouring if desired. For the best results, I always add Wilton Icing Whitener to my frosting before adding colour.  By removing the cream colour of the butter,it gives you a crisp white palette to ensure a better colour.

5. Decorate as desired. 

Recipe make approx 18 cupcakes.   

Enjoy!

XXX