Chocolate Cherry Coke Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

Chocolate cherry coke cupcakes…the name just sounds refreshing doesn’t it? If you would have asked me two months ago I would have told you they sounded disgusting!

Fact #1: Some of you might cringe a little when you read this, but believe it or not I don’t drink soda (or pop, or coke, whatever you’d like to call it). I guess I can’t exactly say never, but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve consumed soda in the past year.

Fact #2: I don’t like cherries or cherry flavored anything.

It’s quite a conundrum that a girl who doesn’t like coke, or cherries, would make chocolate cherry coke cupcakes. I never thought it would happen either. I’ve mentioned before that I’m making cupcakes for a wedding in June, and the groom requested some sort of chocolate cherry creation. It was fate when just a few weeks later I saw these in my Google reader. I sent the link to the bride-to-be (because let’s face it, she makes all the decisions anyway) and she gave me the thumbs up to try them out.

I have never made a cake with buttermilk,or melted butter, but I think I need to start doing it more often. This chocolate cake was so incredibly moist and mouthwatering! The frosting starts out like a basic buttercream but is flavored with cherry juice. Kristan added about half a jar of chopped cherries, but I only used a few. When I needed to thin the frosting out a bit at the end I added some milk instead of adding more cherry juice, but if you are a cherry lover then feel free to go with the juice. I thought the cherry flavor was perfect without being overpowering. The chocolate ganache on top is the perfect compliment to the rest of the flavors and is what completely makes the cupcakes in my opinion. I never would have guessed it, but these beauties have shot up the list and are now one of my top 3 favorite cupcakes! Enjoy!

Chocolate Cherry Coke Cupcakes
Printer Friendly

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 cup Coke

Cherry Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
10 oz jar maraschino cherries
4 cups powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp milk

Glaze:
4 Tablespoons melted butter
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup Coke
2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together cake mix, butter, buttermilk, eggs and Coke until well combined. Pour into lined muffin tins, about ⅔ full. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

To make frosting, beat together the butter and four tablespoons of the maraschino cherry juice. In 1 cup increments add the powdered sugar and beat until fully combined. At this point you can add some coarsely chopped cherries (I only used a few, you could use as many as you like). If the frosting needs to be thinned you can add 1-2 Tbsp of milk or substitute with some of the remaining cherry juice. Frost fully cooled cupcakes, then place in the refrigerator to chill for about one hour.

To make the glaze, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Once the butter has melted add the cocoa powder and Coke. Once this mixture begins to boil remove from heat and whisk in the powdered sugar. Spoon over chilled cupcakes and top with remaining cherries (if there are any).