Assorted Valentine's Day Cupcakes and Black Forest Cupcakes with Cherry Liqueur Buttercream Recipe

I have never been hugely into celebrating Valentine's Day. I will not bore you with all the bah humbug reasons why V-Day has not earned a place on my holiday hit list. We'll just say I've never thought the day was worth making a fuss over. This year however, my almost 4 year old daughter was so jazzed up about her approaching Valentine's Day party at her pre-school that I could not help but get into the spirit a little.

Okay, maybe I got into the spirit a lot.

You see, I'm usually not a big cupcake baker either. I prefer making one big, uniquely decorated cake to making many similarly decorated small ones. Maybe cupid got me while I was sleeping or something, because as Valentine's Day approached I fell in love with the idea of cupcakes, many different kinds, to suit the many different tastes of all the Valentines in our lives.

So, I made some vanilla cupcakes frosted with vanilla buttercream and decorated with tiny candy hearts.

I also made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting and topped with a delicate red chocolate heart I made by piping some melted candy melts onto a silicone baking sheet.

I wasn't done there. I felt I would be remiss to bake 6 or 7 dozen cupcakes for Valentine's Day and not include red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I topped them with a whimsical ( I am using this word as a euphemism for messy) sugar crystal heart.

Last but not least, I made Black Forest cupcakes with cherry filling, frosted with cherry liqueur buttercream, and dotted with tiny cocoa pearls.  These were a new cupcake for me, but have turned out to be my new personal favorite.

My daughter proclaimed the cupcakes "AHHMAZING!" and was very excited to give them as a Valentine's gift to the teachers and staff at her school. My husband and I also shared some with our coworkers at our respective offices. I hope these little treats brought a little joy into our Valentines' lives. With as much joy as my little girl's enthusiasm and excitement has brought me, the least I can do is pay it forward!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Black Forest Cupcakes with Cherry Liqueur Buttercream  basic concept and cherry filling recipe from Cupcake Project

Make a batch of your favorite chocolate cupcakes. I used the Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipe and adjusted the baking time down to 20 minutes.

Cherry Filling

1 lb cherries, washed, pitted, and destemmed ( I used a 12 oz. bag of frozen cherries)
1/4 C water
3/4 C sugar

1.Throw all the ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil.
2.Reduce heat and let mixture simmer for 15 minutes, stirring periodically.
3.Remove from heat and let cool

Cherry Liqueur Buttercream
I use this buttercream recipe and substitute the cream for 2 (okay maybe closer to 3) Tablespoons of  a cherry liqueur. I used Dekuyper's Michigan Cherry Liqueur.

When the cupcakes are cooled core out the center and put in a few cherries from the cooled cherry mixture and spoon in a few teaspoons of the juice. Replace the tops.

After all the cupcakes are filled add 3 Tablespoons of cherry liqueur to the remaining cherry and sugar syrup mixture. Brush a generous amount over the top of each cupcake.

Frost with the Cherry Liqueur Buttercream and decorate as you would like.

Enjoy!