Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes.  I bet I had you at chocolate.  I'm all about dessert.  I will happily spend an hour longer at the gym just so I can earn the extra calorie space to eat dessert.  (I've actually done this!!)

If you're all about desserts like me you'll be thrilled to hear that Renuzit has come out with a sinfully delicious new line of scents, sure to make your mouth water and inspire the inner pastry chef in you. 

Chocolate Covered Cherries  



Creme Brulee

And of course one of my favorite desserts of all time - Red Velvet Cake

The fragrance is as absolutely sinful as you can imagine, so of course I jumped at the chance to create a dessert inspired by them!  You can follow along on my shopping trip here through Google+.

We are huge dessert fans in our house and I'm all about cupcakes these days, so I got to work on creating a fun, delicious and tempting indulgence. 

Want to make the Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes?  Here's the recipe...


Ingredients

Cherry Preserve
1 3/4 cup of all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (you can substitute milk with a teaspoon of lemon juice, let it sit a few minutes)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh coffee

Directions for cupcakes
Pre-heat oven to 325.  Prep cupcake liners in cupcake tins. 

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix all the wet ingredients (except for the coffee).  Add slowly the wet mixture to the dry ingredients.  Once mix thoroughly, add the coffee.  It will be very liquidy.  Don't worry! 

Add about 1/4 cup of the mixture to each cupcake tin.  Bake in oven for approximately 25 minutes.  You will know they are done once a tooth pick comes out dry.

Remove from oven and let completely cool.

Once they are cooled, core out a hole in the middle of each cupcake.  You can gently do this with a knife or use a fancy coring tool, either works the same.  Add a spoonful of the cherry preserves to each cored out cupcake. 

For butter cream topping
2 sticks of butter (room temperature)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
Cherry Preserves

Frosting Directions
Mix all the above ingredients (except the cherry preserves) on high in mixer until it gets a fluffy consistency (it takes a few minutes to get to this point).  Once it is fluffy, gently mix in the cherry preserves.  You don't want to mix to much at this point because it looks great when it is barely mixed in.

Load in to pastry bag with a wide pastry tip.  Top each cupcake.  Set the topped cupcakes in the freezer or fridge while you prep the chocolate drizzle.

Decoration Ingredients
1 package of chocolate chips
2 tablespoons crisco
Maraschino cherries

Decoration Directions
Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second increments.  Check and mix.  Repeat until smooth, it will take about a minute and a half.  Mix in the crisco. 

Drizzle the mixture on the cupcakes and top with a maraschino cherry.

To find out more about the new line of air fresheners you can go to their website here or to the Renuzit Facebook page here.

Note:  I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Renuzit #CBias #SocialFabric  #TemptYourSenses