One of my most popular recipes, so moist and elegant! The cherry works perfectly with the almond, the tang of the cream cheese frosting, and the whimsical, crunchy slivered almonds.
I used fresh cherries here, partly because I was trying to be fancy and partly because they’re in season. If you use fresh cherries, add about two tablespoons of sugar, to mimic the extra sweetness that you get from canned cherries. If your cherries are particularly sweet, you can probably get away with no additional sugar. If they’re particularly sour, you could probably up it to 1/4 cup.
You can also do a traditional piped-swirl of frosting, but I am particularly fond of the sliced almonds on top. Make sure you get sliced almonds with skins on, so you get color and contrast.
This recipe makes enough frosting for 12 cupcakes piped high, or 24 cupcakes frosted and topped with almonds. However, did you know you can freeze frosting? You can! I froze the other half, so that the next time I need to make someone love me a little more (particularly the person that may or may not live with me and share my bed), I’m already halfway there.
Make sure you don’t fill these liners quite as full as you would another cupcake that you want to have a nice dome. These should be a bit flatter if you plan to sprinkle the frosting with almond slivers.
- This recipe is based on the golden vanilla recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Am I vegan? No. Why do I use this base recipe still, then? Because it’s that good. You can do almost anything with it; it’s a perfect base.