Schwarzwälderkirschtorte (Black Forest Cupcakes)

A favorite combination of mine when it comes to German desserts is chocolate and cherries. It also happens to be one of my husband’s favorite cake flavors too and often requests a Black Forest cake on special occasions. For our recent German dinner, I wanted to highlight this combination because it’s common to see a Schwarzwälderkirschtorte or Black Forest Torte at local German bakeries. Rather than making a torte, I opted to make cupcakes instead since they’re easier to serve and individually portioned, making sharing easier too.

To prepare, it’s essentially a rich chocolate cake batter that’s baked up as cupcakes. Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled, the middles are cut out and filled with a sweet cherry filling.

Due to time constraints and out of convenience, I used a canned cherry pie filling but you’re welcome to use a homemade cherry filling but simply boiling pitted cherries, water and a little sugar. If you have some kirsch or cherry liquor, feel free to add a little for more cherry flavor.

After the cupcakes are filled, top them with some freshly whipped cream and garnish with a maraschino cherry!

Schwarzwälderkirschtorte (Black Forest Cupcakes)

recipe adapted from Global Gourmet

Schwarzwälderkirschtorte (Black Forest Cupcakes) Cake Batter Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1-1/4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1-1/2 teaspoon soda
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Schwarzwälderkirschtorte (Black Forest Cupcakes) Filling Ingredients

• 1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling, chilled

Schwarzwälderkirschtorte (Black Forest Cupcakes) Frosting & Garnish Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar 1 cup heavy cream, whipped
• 12 maraschino cherries

Schwarzwälderkirschtorte (Black Forest Cupcakes) Recipe Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin pan with liners.
2. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, flour, milk, baking soda, cocoa, red food coloring, and vanilla. Blend on low, scraping constantly. Beat 3 minutes on high speed.
3. Fill each muffin liner with batter up to 2/3 full.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.
5. Cool thoroughly on a cooling rack.
6. Whip heavy cream with confectioners’ sugar and place in a piping bag; set aside.
7. When cupcakes are cool, cut out the centers of each so you can fill it.
8. Reserve the cake middles – don’t throw them away. Enjoy them as a treat for later or stir into ice cream!

1. Fill each cupcake will cherry pie filling. Top the cupcake with the fresh whipped cream and pipe it on.
2. Top each cupcake with a maraschino cherry.