Cherry chip cupcakes

Aka: Pretty pretty princess cupcakes.


These are some PINK cupcakes...fit for a princess.  My friend, and co-worker, Kathleen is that princess.  Kathleen recently celebrated her birthday, and as tradition goes, I make her a cherry chip cake.  It's her favorite.  It's sort of odd.  Most people say chocolate, vanilla, funfetti.  Kathleen? She likes cherry chip.

Kathleen is an avid reader and reality TV watcher.  She's also a great mother and one great story-teller.  She loves movies and Danskos and everyone who meets her, loves her.

The first time I made this cake is sort of a legendary story.  I made a nice layer cake, because how cute is a pink layer cake?!  I started to frost it before I left the house, but decided to finish up at work.  Craziest thing..I couldn't find the lid to the frosting.  It was bizarre, but if you're ever in my kitchen while I'm baking....it's tough to find anything.  
When I got to work, a co-worker asked what I was doing with that plastic thing in between my cake layers? 
Was it something to prop the cakes??  


Um, no....it was the frosting lid.


Stuck in the middle of my layers. 


I must have set one of my cakes right on top of it.  Luckily, I could remove it. Can you imagine how horrified I would have been if the birthday girl cut into her cake only to find a bright red plastic disk?  Thankfully, we'll never know.

This time I decided to make the cake from scratch.  Well, sort of.....

Don't judge me.
The thing is, it's really tough to find a recipe for cherry chip cake.  The few I found involved using egg whites and the truth is..I couldn't screw up this cake.  
It's her favorite.  
If you are in charge of making a very special cake for a birthday girl, well, you do it right.
I remembered a few years ago another co-worker brought in a cherry chip cake she made.  I saved the recipe in my email for years.  The recipe calls for this white cake mix! Done!
Just add a few ingredients and you have cake.  




Cherry Chip Cupcakes
makes 2 dozen ( or you could make a nice 9 inch layer cake)


Prep time: 15 mins
Baking time: 15-20 minutes


A nice light and flavorful white cupcake with a hint of cherry.  A delicious cherry buttercream tops it off!


1 package Betty Crocker white cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 egg whites
1 cup maraschino cherries, drained and chopped (have you ever tried chopping maraschino cherries? not easy. just sayin)




Preheat oven to 350 and grease your pan of choice.
Beat cake mix, sour cream, oil, almond extract, and egg whites in a large bowl on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium speed for 2 more minutes. Fold cherries into batter.
For these cupcakes I only needed to bake them for 15 minutes.  Check them at 15, but you may need to go to 20 minutes.  For a cake, it would be closer to 25 minutes.
Allow to cool before frosting.


Cherry frosting
6 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup softened butter
6 Tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla


Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat until smooth.


I ended up using about double the amount of cherry juice.  I didn't feel the 6 tablespoons added enough cherry flavoring.  Only problem I ran into was the more juice I added, the softer my frosting became.  I had to let it set a while before I was able to use it.  Use the 6 Tablespoons the recipe calls for and see if it's enough flavor for you.

I had more than enough frosting, so I gave the extra to the birthday girl!
This cake doesn't have as great of a story as the previous cake, but I still think it was a success!  They looked adorable and were Kathleen approved!