I could think of nothing better than having a cupcake which makes you feel all warm inside. As a kid, I was always given a teaspoon of cherry brandy on a Friday night. It was that taste that I will always remember for the rest of my life. I wanted to try and incorporate that sweet and strong flavor into a cupcake and I came up with a cherry brandy cupcake. Not only does this cupcake contain the very delicious cherries, it also contains my other favorite flavor which is chocolate.

Here is how you make these devilishly naughty chocolate cherry cupcakes…

100ml Cherry Brandy

200g Butter (I like to use Stork as it makes the cakes much lighter)

200g Caster Sugar (If you want a golden texture Golden Caster Sugar is divine in these cakes)

Pinch of salt

2tsp Baking Powder

140g Plain Flour

60g Good quality Cocoa Powder (it does make all the difference)

4 Free Range eggs

This will be enough for 24 cupcakes

Start off by setting the oven temperature to160 degrees then, fill a cupcake baking tray with paper cupcake liners and leave it to once side. Take a large bowl and mix the butter or stork, until it turns from a yellow colour to a pale white colour, this will take 2-5 mins. Then add the sugar until the mixture turns light and fluffy. Once the sugar has been mixed in, sieve the flour into a separate bowl and add the cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Then, add the eggs one at a time to the butter and sugar mixture, making sure that you mix well with each addition. Once the eggs have been well mixed, add the cherry brandy, then ensure that you sift the mixture of cocoa, flour, baking powder and salt into the butter, sugar, egg, cherry brandy mixture. Add 1/3 at a time and do not use an electric mixer as this will beat all of the air out of the mixture and the air is what we need in order to have light and fluffy cakes. Do not mix too much, just enough to ensure the mixture is well combined. Once all of the ingredients have been mixed, dollop the mixture into each cupcake holder, make sure that each case is only ½ filled, as this will provide enough space for the cupcakes to rise without exploding all over your oven and kitchen. These cakes should take 18 to 25 minutes to cook but make sure you DO NOT open the oven before the 18minute mark as this could cause your cupcakes to sink in the middle and therefore make them very hard to ice and look presentable. Check your cakes are ready by inserting a skewer into the centre of each cake and if you can pull it out clean, then the cakes are ready. Take them out the oven and leave them to cool for 10 minutes in the baking tray and then remove them and leave them to cool completely on a wire rack.

Icing

250g Unsalted butter at room temp

500g Icing sugar

100g Dark chocolate 70% cocoa (Melted and then cooled down).

2-4 Tablespoon of milk at room temp

Glace Cherries

Place the butter in a bowl and mix until it turns from a yellow colour to a pale white colour, this will take 2-5 minutes. Turn you mixer on low and add 1/3 icing sugar at a time and slowly mix through the butter, continue adding the icing sugar until mixture has turned thick. Add the cold melted chocolate, then the milk in a little bit at a time as this should only be used to make the mixture a little looser. Then it is ready to pipe onto your cupcakes and place a cherry on the top and voila! Enjoy!