I was asked for Black Forrest Cake for someone’s birthday, but I wanted to put a little of a Sultana twist on it and opted for cupcakes instead. These little beauties are chocolatey, with the hidden treasure of cherry sweetness inside. The whipped cream frosting finishes it off beautifully for an all around Black Forrest experience in the palm of your hand.

METHOD

1. Place a metal bowl and your hand mixer, or stand mixer’s beater/paddles into the freezer. Preheat grill to 400°F, prepare for indirect cooking. Line 2 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners, grease them and set aside.
2. Over a double boiler, melt the dark chocolate. Set it aside to cool.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, beating until they are well combined.
4. Sift together the dry ingredients, the cocoa, flour, salt and baking powder. Gently fold in half of the flour mixture, followed by the melted chocolate. Fold in the rest of the flour mixture.
5. Combine the milk and the coffee together and add just enough of this mixture to get a nice batter consistency, you may need all of it or you may not.
6. Fill each cupcake cup about ¾ of the way full and bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes. I would check these around the 15 minute mark, and they are ready when a cake tester comes out clean. Remember that you preheated your grill to 400°F, you will need to turn it down a little when you put the cupcakes in. Doing this will help your cupcakes to rise. This is a great technique for muffins and other baking as well, if you find that it’s not rising to the occasion.
7. Allow the cupcakes to cool for about 5 to 10 minutes in the tin before letting them cool completely on a wire rack. When cool enough, use a grapefruit spoon to carve out a little hole in the top of each cupcake and fill it with about 1 tbsp. of cherry jam. Place the cut out portion of the cupcake back in the top and frost.

Whipped Cream Frosting

1. Combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan with ½ cup of the heavy whipping cream. Whisk together until smooth. Then, stirring constantly to avoid scorching, place the cream mixture over medium heat until it thickens, almost coming to a boil. Set this aside and stir it occasionally until it reaches room temperature.
2. Remove the bowl and whisk beater/paddles out of the freezer. Pour the remaining whipping cream and the vanilla into the chilled bowl. Beat with the chilled beaters/paddle until the cream begins to hold its shape. While the beater is still going, slowly add the powdered sugar mixture a little at a time, beating until stiff peaks are appearing or the mixture is spreadable. Be very careful not to overbeat this.
3. Fill a piping bag with the frosting and immediately frost the cupcakes. Frosting is pretty easy. You want to use a larger tip and starting from the outside, using even pressure on the bag, pipe in a large circle around the edge of the cupcake working your way inward and up, layering the icing like a pyramid.
4. Serve as soon as possible, or store in the fridge until needed.

These cupcakes turned out very well, everyone who tried them was surprised when they found the cherry filling. This recipe is also easy to adjust to your own needs too. Add chocolate chips, use cake pans instead, you get the idea, you can even change up the filling if you wanted to – fudge, strawberries – you get the idea.

Happy Grilling!