Black Forest Cupcakes by Z.E. Krautmama

In approximately 121 days my bloke and I will be wed. In approximately six hours and sixteen minutes, my dear friend Em will be kicking off her birthday celebrations at a pub around the corner from where we're having our after-marriage shindig. What have these two events got in common? Why, CUPCAKES, my dear!

Frustrated with the monstrosities of marzipan presented to me by the wedding coordinator at our reception centre (and gobsmacked over the price - $140 for a single tiered plain cake? I think not!); I have decided to bake our own wedding cakes. Cakes? Yes, plural. I am looking at the prospect of baking in much the same way that I look at a basket full of unfolded washing: yes, folding the big things first gives you more bang for your buck, but it's the little things that are most fulfilling to put away.... oh lordy, scrap that, I sound like Martha F'n Stewart, don't I? Forgive me, I have not yet had my morning tipple.

Basically, we decided on cupcakes because big cakes are both cumbersome and out of the realm of my decorating abilities. Cupcakes, on the other hand, are itsy-bitsy bundles of goodness, kinda like the crispy bits on the edge of bacon rinds. And owing to my bloke's love of Krautrock, and the Deutsch blood flowing through my veins, we decided that the classic torte combination of chocolate and cherry would be fitting. The only problem is we haven't done a trial run yet, and that, my loves, is where Em's birthday comes in. Because if they end up messed up, well, there's always beer to eat instead.

These cupcakes are based on the basic cupcake "foundation" of equal parts caster sugar, self raising flour and unsalted butter. The quantity below will make eighteen cakes depending on how much of the mixture you eat before baking. The recipe is a bastardisation of "Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes" from Fergal Connolly's 500 Cupcakes (what's the difference between a cook and a chef? A cook acknowledges their sauces... oh lordy, kill me now.)

Black Forest Cupcakes

Ingredients

225g self-raising flour
4 tbsp good cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
225g caster sugar
225g softened unsalted butter
4 eggs
90g chopped cherries (I used frozen as fresh are out of season)
2 tbsp kirsch (or other cherry-flavoured liquor)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees celcius. Place 18 pattycake cases in muffin tins.
2. Using a sieve, sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a medium bowl and set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until soft, then add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition until the whole thing is creamy.
3. Add the flour mixture and cherries, stirring with a wooden spoon until combined.
4. Spoon into the cases (fill about 3/4 full) and bake for twenty minutes. Remove the tins from the oven, cool in the tins for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack, sprinkle over the kirsch and allow to cool completely.

Icing
(Yes, I know this icing doesn't really "go" with the cupcakes, but for the sake of decoration the whipped cream and chocolate shavings suggested by the recipe book wasn't going to cut it: too much class, not enough arse IYKWIM... You can change the colours and decorations to suit the gaudiness of your intended cupcake recipient.)
375g sifted icing sugar
225g softened unsalted butter
Food colouring

1. Beat the icing sugar and butter together until smooth and fluffy.
2. Add food colouring according to your own whim and fancy, beat some more until the icing is all the same colour.
3. Ice the cooled cupcakes using a metal spoon and decorate with whatever you have lying around the house (sprinkles, icing tubes, cachous, bacon, etc.)

And the result? Well, I think my decorating skills need a bit more work, but meh. They taste good, even if they do look a little like a wreck on the autobahn.