Vanilla-Cherry Cupcakes

Ingredients for 12 servings:

• 180 g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 vanilla pods, including the pulp
• 100 g butter
• 150 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 150 ml milk
• 150 g cherries
• 3 tbsp cherry juice
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 ½ tsp, leveled cornstarch
• 250 ml cream
• 150 g white chocolate
• some food coloring, as needed

Instructions

Working time approx. 35 minutes; Rest time approx. 6 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 6 hours 55 minutes

with a white chocolate ganache

Preheat the oven to 175°C. For the batter: In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Split the vanilla pods lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. If you don’t have any pods on hand, you can use 3 packets of vanilla sugar for 125g of sugar. In a second bowl, beat the room-temperature butter, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds with a hand mixer for a few minutes until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk and mix briefly until a smooth batter forms. Mix only as much as necessary to combine the ingredients. Line a muffin tin with baking cups or cut square pieces of baking paper and line them with them. Spoon the batter into the baking cups. Bake the cupcakes in the oven for 20 minutes. Let them cool completely before filling. For the filling: First of all, I should say that the cupcakes taste wonderful even without a filling. Depending on my mood, or time, I also like to make them on their own. It’s a great basic recipe that also works well with other toppings or fillings. For the filling, I used jarred cherries, incorporating the juice into the filling. You can, of course, use fresh ones, too. Quarter the cherries and bring them to a boil in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of juice and sugar. The cherries shouldn’t fall apart. In a jar, mix the cornstarch with the remaining tablespoon of juice and use it to thicken the cherries. Let the cherry compote cool completely before filling the cupcakes. To fill the cupcakes, use a knife to cut a cone out of the top of the cupcakes. Use a teaspoon to evenly hollow out the holes. Fill them with the preserved cherries. Cut off the tip of the cone, leaving only a lid, and place it back on top of the cherry filling. For the topping: Melt the cream and the broken white chocolate in a small saucepan, stirring regularly. Pour the chocolate cream into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or preferably overnight. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form (with a little food coloring if desired), fill it into a piping bag, and pipe it onto the cupcakes. TIP: If you prefer to enjoy the cupcakes plain, you can omit the ganache. To decorate the cupcakes without topping, you can cut off the tops with a knife. However, the cupcakes need a certain amount of height for this. Therefore, for this recipe, I would divide the batter between 10-11 baking cups. The cupcakes are then hollowed out and filled as usual. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the cut-off top and place it back on the cupcake. If desired, add a little more filling and sprinkle the cupcakes with powdered sugar.