Black Forest Gateau Cupcakes

I love black forest gateau, I think it's a wonderful dessert and I believe it's in need of a bit of a revival.

I am so passionate about this that I even asked for a bottle of kirsch for Christmas, which I used to make a festive black forest roulade.

The next installment in the project are these cupcakes and yet again, the flavour combination didn't disappoint. 

There is fresh cream on them, so I would recommend eating them on the day they're made.

I would encourage everyone to buy a bottle of kirsch and get involved in this revival!

Keep reading for recipe!

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 125g softened butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 200g self-raising flour
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 125ml milk
• 100g dark chocolate, melted
• 1 tin of cherries (approx 300g)
• 3 tbsp kirsch
• 250ml cream

Empty the contents of the tinned cherries, including the syrup, into a bowl and add the kirsch. Preheat the oven to 170C and line a 12 hole bun tray with cases.

Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl with an electric whisk until light and creamy. Add in the eggs, one at a time until fully incorporated into the mixture.

Mix in the flour and cocoa powder until well combined. Gently fold in the milk and melted chocolate.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until well risen and a skewer comes out clean. Remove the cakes from from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, slice the cherries in half and remove the stones, if necessary. Whip the cream in a bowl, over whipping slightly so that the cream is quite stiff.

To assemble, pipe the cream onto the cupcakes using a star nozzle. Place 3-4 cherry halves on top of the cream and drizzle over about a teaspoon of the kirsch syrup. Enjoy!