Black Forest Cupcakes

Remember when I went to Poland and I came back dreaming of Polish desserts, the ones that were filled with fruit and home made whipped cream.  I missed them OH SO MUCH.  Especially the Black Forest Cake or Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.  Can you say that fast three times?  Personally I have been to the Black Forest and enjoyed some of its cherries or at least the cherry flavored liquored called Kirsch but I never realized what kind of a German Culture they teach my child in middle school.

It has come to my attention that on numerous occasions my tween daughter has been served Black Forest Cake with Raspberries.  WHAT?  I know, supposably by her school German Club and again in German Fest.  My almost 13 year old thought that Black Forest Cake was served with Raspberries, and she was so certain of it that I needed to look it up to make sure I was not guiding her in wrong direction.  Of course she is a tween and she will say I looked it up to prove her wrong while in reality I looked it up to prove myself wrong, or at least feel like I knew what I was talking about.  Just because the only way I have ever eaten a Black Forest Cake was with cherries does not mean that it is the only way it comes.

I tried to make this easy so instead of a homemade chocolate cake I used a box and added 1tbs of unprocessed dutch coco powder.  Traditional Black Forest is made with cherry liquor or in some instances rum but since I was serving this to kids I opted out of it.

You will need: 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tbs sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla, 1 can of dark sweet cherries in syrup, 1 can of cherry pie filling, Chocolate for decoration

Prepare the cake accordingly to the directions on the package, mine needed some eggs and oil.

Spray a cupcake pan with non stick spray, preheat oven to 350 deg

Pour the batter into cupcake pan or get someone else to do it.  Since making the Rainbow Cupcakes I am no longer allowed to bake without my daughter’s help.

She yells at me when I do.

Bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean.   TA DA

The time really depends on the cupcake size.  I love these miniature cupcakes and so does everyone else in the family since these cutties were gone before the biggies.

Don’t try to take the cupcakes out of the pan when hot wait till they cool of a little bit and they will be much easier to take out.

When the cupcakes are cooling whip the cream with 1 tbs sugar and 1/4 tsp vanilla.  Make sure it is stiff and creamy but do not over beat or you will end up with one delicious butter

You can make the cupcakes ahead of time and assemble right before serving.

Cut them in half, place enough cherry pie filling on the bottom to cover.

Top with Whipped Cream

Soak the top portion in Syrup from another can.  If you are planning to make them with alcohol this is the time to add a bit of Kirsch or if you can find Cherries in Rum (in German or Eastern European stores) they would do the trick.

Place on top of whipped cream, top with spoonful of cream and few cherries (from syrup)

To make it more fun you can always cut a hole in a middle and hide the cherries inside the cupcake instead of making it in layers

To serve take a piece of Chocolate and using potato peeler shave some pieces over the cupcake

TA DA… Yummy, easy and perfect.