The Cherry on Top- Cherry Chip Cake with Cherry Buttercream

Cherry Chip Cupcakes

Informal, But Fun  

This week I really just wanted to make cupcakes. Sometimes a cake feels so formal, and after a busy week, anticipating a full but informal weekend ahead, a cake felt like too much.

I’ve perused all of the confections in Antique Cakes by Julie Richardson, and the Cherry Chip Cake with Cherry Buttercream gave alternative instructions for cupcakes. Yes, this one fit the bill. And I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, a cherry chip box mix was a fun alternative to chocolate or vanilla.

This weekend, I needed something to take to a pool party, alongside my garden-fresh jalapeño poppers. Nobody wants a slab of cake at a pool party, but a cute cupcake is often a fan favorite.

Homemade, With Some Improv

Aside from being homemade, what set this cake apart from the Betty Crocker cherry chip of my childhood was real cherry puree, rather than artificial cherry flavor. Rehydrating and pureeing dried cherries added a little time to the prep, but it wasn’t difficult.

The batter was made with both butter and oil, fine cake flour, and half a dozen egg whites. Side note: you know what that means? Six egg yolks remaining, begging to become pudding. But I digress.

The recipe for the cake called for a meringue buttercream with some of the puree whipped in. I chose to sub in my own buttercream. I added some almond extract to give it a cherry-esque flavor—also because I love almond in my buttercream.

A Velvety Chocolate Drizzle

You may think the special element in this cake was the cherry puree—and maybe it should have been. But the cherry flavor in the cake was very subtle. I guess it’s possible that the dried tart cherries I used were not the superior quality required for this cake. This is also why I added almond extract to boost the cherry essence in the frosting.

In my opinion, the star of these cupcakes was the rich chocolate ganache. Had I made the cake, the ganache would have blanketed the layers. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the cupcakes, so I drizzled it over the tops. In fact, they looked like little sundaes, so I topped them with a cherry (not called for in the recipe).

Chocolate Covered Cherry

In the end, these little treats were cute as a button. I dubbed them chocolate-covered cherry cupcakes because that’s what I saw when I looked at them.

The cake itself was fluffy, moist, and tasty. Again, I wouldn’t have called them cherry chip. Someone asked what kind of cake it was, and I replied: “I don’t know…cake flavored?” Even though lacking a distinct flavor, I’d still say they were scrumptious, and the buttercream with the ganache was indulgent.

The Cherry on Top: The Transcend Moment

This past week was busy, chaotic, and downright stressful at times. Sliding into the weekend, the crazy weather was unpredictable, but we resolved to roll with it. We treated Friday as sort of a transition from the tumult to a more restful state.

The pool party on Saturday (so graciously hosted by good friends) was a time to chill—literally, the water was 73 degrees. It was a good 73 degrees, really; after a hot and humid, crazy week, it was like the ice bath at the end of a hard workout (a bit of a dramatic comparison, but you get it). 

We didn’t even care that a summer storm rolled in. It snuck in at the end of the day, providing a natural signal to amble home and allow dreamland to finish the relaxing day.

We often try to add more to life, thinking we are making it better. We want to control things and fix things. But like a cupcake that is sort of improvised, sometimes what we need is to simply allow “good enough” to be the cherry on top.