Heavenly Cupcakes –Stuffed Black Forest Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

My favorite candy is cherry cordial…my favorite ice cream,also cherry with chocolate chunks…my favorite part of a sundae,the red cherry on top…what can we conclude from this? I LOVE the combination of chocolate and maraschino cherries!  How can that combo be kicked up a notch? Add in some cheesecake filling!  When I found this recipe for black forest cupcakes (chocolate cupcakes filled with cherries and cream cheese and topped with cream cheese icing),I knew I would have to make it immediately…

Usually I make my chocolate cake batter from scratch,but this time around I was in a bit of a hurry,so I used a Betty Crocker dark chocolate cake mix and doctored it up a bit.  Here is how to do it:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a cupcake tray (or you can use cupcake liners,it just so happened that I didn’t have any handy…plus lets save the environment and trees and cut down on the waste!).  Prepare the cake mix according to the directions on the box,but leave out 1/4 cup of water and substitute in Sabra liqueur (chocolate orange liquor) or something similar,but how can you resist having Sabra in your house when it tastes so amazing and comes in the cutest bottle (plus Sabra is kosher!!):

In another bowl mix together one block of cream cheese (Philadelphia cream cheese is always my preference),1 egg,2 TB granulated sugar,4 TB powdered sugar.

Set up a station with your bowl of cream cheese filling,the chocolate cake batter and a can of cherry pie filling (plus your greased cupcake pan):

Spoon in a bit of the chocolate cake batter to cover the bottom of the cupcake pan,but not too high (maybe 1.5 TB).  Then put some cream cheese filling on top of the chocolate cake batter,staying away from the edges of the cupcake pan,like this:

Next spoon a bit of the cherry pie filling on top of the cream cheese filling:

Finally,cover the cherry and cream cheese filling carefully with more chocolate cake batter.  Don’t overfill the cups because these cupcakes will rise!

Bake for 20-25 minutes (test with a cake tester),when they come out of the oven,they will look like this:

Wait for the cupcakes to cool.  Meanwhile,I made Magnolia Bakery’s cream cheese icing by mixing together in my Kitchen Aid mixer (YAAAY!!)one block of Philadelphia cream cheese (room temperature and diced up) and 3 TB unsalted butter (also room temperature and diced).  Then all 1 tsp vanilla (I like to add a bit more than the recipe calls for,you can never have too much vanilla!).  Add 2.5 cups of confections sugar,a little at a time.  Make sure everything is mixed very well.  If you want it to thicken before icing,you can put it in the fridge.  I actually prefer to use it right away.  So after the cupcakes cooled,frosted them with cream cheese frosting:

Then eat away…here is what these stuffed black forest cupcakes look like if you cut it down the middle…HEAVEN!:

I like them even better the next day,after sitting in the fridge…but frankly,they are so good,it is hard to keep them around for too long!  This recipe does make 24 cupcakes though,so there are plenty to share with friends and family…and I have not found anyone who doesn’t like them!