Maraschino Cherry Cupcakes

5 from 4 votes

If you like maraschino cherries, these homemade cupcakes are for you. It all starts with a vanilla cupcake batter enriched with maraschino cherries and the cherry juice. Top them with fluffy cherry cream cheese frosting and you have a delightful dessert!

Prep Time30

Cook Time25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: cupcakes

Calories: 201kcal

Cost: $6

Ingredients

Cupcake Batter

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 ⅔ cup sugar
⅔ cup butter
1 ¼ cups milk
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3 eggs
½ cup chopped maraschino cherries.
1 cup maraschino cherry juice
24 Maraschino cherries with stems

Frosting

1 stick butter
4 oz. cream cheese
16 -20 oz. confectioners’ sugar
½ cup Maraschino cherry juice
pink gel food coloring (optional)

Instructions

For the Cupcakes

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Fill 24 muffin cups with paper liners and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy for about 1 minute, scraping the side of the bowl to make sure all ingredients are mixed well. Add the eggs and mix well until the egg and sugar mixture is light and fluffy.
Next, add chopped cherries and cherry liquid and stir until fully combined.
Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the cupcake batter and stir until combined. While stirring add the milk to the flour mixture until everything is fully combined and cake batter is smooth.
Fill lined muffin tins ½ full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cuopcakes are golden on top and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

For the Frosting

In a large bowl, whip the softened butter and cream cheese until creamy.
Gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
Finally, fold in the cherry juice and a few drops of pink food coloring gel (if desired), until well incorporated.
Add frosting to a piping bag with a star tip and pipe frosting on each cupcake in a swirl pattern, then top with a cherry.

Notes

I like to chop the maraschino cherries very finely so that it is almost like a puree. Keep them bigger if you like chunks of cherries in your cupcakes.

Nutrition