Vanilla Cherry Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 325°F / 165°C / Gas Mark 3

Line muffin pan with cupcake liners or use baking cups.

Dry ingredients - Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and set aside.

Blend cherries.- Place half the pitted cherries in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Pass it through a sieve. Set aside.Pro tip - straining the skin from the juice will ensure a smooth texture for our batter but you can certainly use the crushed cherries too.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, oil, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated.Pro tip - adding eggs one at a time making sure it is fully incorporated will prevent the batter from curdling.

Next, add flour, sour cream, and blended cherries in three additions. Followed by the vanilla and almond extract.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners or baking cups. Pro tip - depending on the size of the eggs and the amount of whipping you may get up to 15 cupcakes or 12 baking cups.

Optional - Drop a pitted fresh cherry in the center of each batter. Pro tip - the cherry in the center will skin to the bottom with its weight so do not try to push it in. Leave it on top. Let it sink naturally.

Bake on the center rack for about 20 to 25 minutes (mine took 20 mins). Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting. Pro tip - leaving the cupcakes in the pan for longer than 5 minutes can cause the cupcake to separate from their liners due to steam.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and salt for a minute until smooth. Add half the sugar and fresh cream. Beat a minute more.

Then add the second half of the powdered sugar and combine well. Followed by the vanilla extract. (you can also add a drop of almond extract for these cupcakes)

Next, whip the buttercream until you have a light and fluffy whipped cream consistency buttercream – about 2 to 3 minutes.Pro tip - it is important to whip the buttercream so the cream in there will build volume otherwise the frosting will be too soft to pipe.

Prepare a piping bag with a large star tip for piping. Smear the piping bag on one side with a raspberry red gel food color. Add buttercream to the bag and secure the top. Give it a gentle squeeze until you see the red frosting coming from one side.

Pipe a large swirl on the cupcake. The red frosting will create a pretty red swirl effect that I have on these cupcakes.

Top with a fresh cherry. When not in season you can omit the fresh cherry and drizzle some sprinkles.