Meet Maraschino Cherry Cupcakes- moist, fluffy, and gorgeously pink candied cherry cupcakes topped with the smoothest, fluffiest cherry frosting. These are quick to make, require ingredients you likely already have on hand, and are unique and fun to bake, serve, and eat.
If you are into the cherry chip flavor or candied cherries, also referred to as glacé cherries, be sure to check out my Maraschino Cherry Almond Cookies. OR, if you are looking for something fun and fruity and pink in color, Strawberry Crinkle Cookies could be your new best friend!
Tell Me About These!
- Moist, fluffy, and light cupcakes
- Flavorful and fruity from maraschino cherry juice
- Quick preparation and simple cleanup
- Fun, unique, and PINK!!!
Cherry Cupcake Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour: You’ll need regular, plain all purpose flour in these cupcakes. Make sure to measure correctly. Read “Expert Tips & Tricks” below to ensure your cupcakes come out fluffy and light!
- Baking Powder + Baking Soda: The combination of these two leavening agents creates soft and fluffy cupcakes with a perfect dome!
- Salt: Salt brings out extra sweetness and enhances the overall flavor of the cupcakes.
- Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar adds moisture, structure, and sweetness!
- Egg: You’ll need one large egg at room temperature! If you forget to leave the egg out ahead of time, place the uncracked egg in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes before baking.
- Vegetable Oil: These cupcakes are made with oil for extra moist cupcakes. You can substitute the vegetable oil with another unflavored oil if necessary.
- Vanilla Extract: Even though these cupcakes have a deep sugared cherry flavor, vanilla completes the flavor and rounds it out!
- Maraschino Cherries + Juice: You’ll need to grab a jar of maraschino cherries, as you’ll need whole cherries for the topping and the syrup in the jar for both the cupcake and frosting.
- Buttermilk: Room temperature buttermilk results in tender and light cupcakes. You can make homemade buttermilk! Read “Expert Tips + Tricks” below for more info.
Frosting Process
*PLEASE READ RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR FULL INSTRUCTIONS*
This frosting could not be easier! It’s silky, smooth, quick, and made with just 4 ingredients! It gets flavor from both maraschino cherry syrup and chopped maraschino cherries! Here’s how to make it:
- Whip room temperature butter and powdered sugar together until smooth
- Add maraschino cherry juice to the mixture and beat until combined
- Pour chopped maraschino cherries into the frosting and mix until evenly distributed
Frequently Asked Questions
Cherry cupcakes are flavored with the syrup which the maraschino cherries sit in. You’ll add the maraschino cherry juice to both the cupcake batter and the frosting for ultimate flavor.
Maraschino cherries are cherries which are preserved and sweetened cherries. They are bright red in color and sit in a syrupy liquid with tons of flavor.
You’ll likely find maraschino cherries near your ice cream section in your grocery store. They are typically used as a garnish and usually sit near sprinkles, caramel, hot fudge, and other toppings! You’ll find them in a small jar!
Expert Tips & Tricks
Measuring Flour: In order for these cupcakes to be tender, light, moist, and fluffy, you NEED to measure your flour correcty. If you skip doing so, you could risk hard and dry cupcakes with little flavor! To measure flour properly:
- Kitchen Scale: Measure the flour to extactly 210g (as listed in the recipe)
- Spoon and Level: Use a spoon to transfer flour into your measuring cups before using a knife to sweep across the top to even out the flour
Homemade Buttermilk: This recipe requires buttermilk. Importantly, you should not substitute regular milk for buttermilk. However, you can make homemade buttermilk in just a few simple steps and 5 minutes total!
- Add 1 tablespoon of white distilled vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup
- Pour room temperature milk until you reach the 1-cup line
- Stir the mixture before letting it sit for 5-10 minutes
- Use as directed
Related Recipes
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Maraschino Cherry Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 cupcakes 1x
- Category: Cherry, Cupcakes, Fruit
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Maraschino Cherry Cupcakes are moist, fluffy, and gorgeously pink candied cherry cupcakes topped with the smoothest, fluffiest cherry frosting. These are quick to make, require ingredients you likely already have on hand, and are unique and fun to bake, serve, and eat.
Ingredients
For the Cherry Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cups (210g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (158g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50g) vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120g) maraschino cherry juice
- 1 cup (240g) buttermilk, room temperature
- optional: pink food dye
For the Cherry Frosting
- 3/4 cup (165g) unsalted butter
- 3 cups (360g) powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons (30g) maraschino cherry juice
- 8–10 maraschino cherries, chopped
Instructions
For the Cherry Cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 12 count muffin pan with liners.
- In a medium sized bowl, use a wire whisk to stir all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together until combined.
- In a large bowl, use a wire whisk to combine granulated sugar, room temperature egg, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, maraschino cherry juice, and room temperature buttermilk together until smooth. If desired, add pink food coloring until desired, deeper pink color is reached.
- Carefully, pour the dry ingredients into the larger bowl of wet ingredients and use a whisk to combine the batter. Only mix until you just see the dry ingredients disappear into the wet. Mixing far past this point could result in dense cupcakes.
- Divide the batter between the liners, adding about 1/4 cup of batter to each cupcake liner. The liners should be about 2/3-3/4 full.
- Bake the cupcakes for 17-21 minutes or until the tops are domed, the centers look shiny, a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, and the tops of the cupcakes spring back when poked with your pointer finger.
- Allow the cupcakes to fully cool before frosting.
For the Cherry Frosting
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer that is fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the room temperature butter and powdered sugar on medium speed until the two are thick and smooth.
- Add the maraschino cherry juice to the frosting and mix until it disperses throughout the icing. Beat for an additional 2 minutes to create a smoother, lighter frosting. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl before mixing again to ensure the juice is spread throughout.
- Add chopped cherries to bowl before mixing once more until the cherries spread throughout the frosting.
- If desired, transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a tip of your choice, a zippable bag with the corner snipped off for better control.
- Frost cupcakes as desired before topping each one with a maraschino cherry. Store at room temperature in an airtight container or tightly covered for up to 4 days.
Keywords: Cherry Cupcakes, Maraschino Cherries, Maraschino Cherry Cupcakes, Candied Cherries
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