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The cherry surprise in these cupcakes makes me ridiculously happy. The kiddos in our family usually just lick the cream off cupcakes (I was beginning to think they’d be equally pleased with a plate of frosting), but they actually ate these cupcakes. They were smitten. My cousin’s wife, Katya (who loves to bake), shared the idea with me to fill these cupcakes with cherries,… mmm.

I’ve been on a honey spree so I tried honey instead of sugar in the cupcake recipe. I also used olive oil instead of butter and didn’t notice a difference in taste, but the next day, the batch of cupcakes with oil were soft as ever even after being refrigerated whereas the ones with butter in the batter… butter in the batter (I like how that sounds, sorry), as I was saying, butter in the batter (ha, ha) made the cupcakes firm the next day.

I tested this recipe thrice before posting (butter and sugar, butter and honey, olive oil and honey). The last one was my best batch (Otherwise I probably would have quite after the second batch, but I didn’t so now I’m up to my ears in cupcakes ;)). This recipe yields 24 cupcakes. You can easily cut everything in half and make 12. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 24 Honey Cupcakes:

1 3/4 cup of cake flour (not self-rising) – click here for a quick video on how to make cake flour

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour *measured correctly

1 Tbsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup extra light olive oil (do not use extra virgin!)

4 eggs

3/4 cup 2% or whole milk (if using sugar, use 1 cup milk)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup honey (or 1 1/2 cups sugar)

Cherry Pie Filling or your favorite canned fruit

*Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly



Click here for the perfect cupcake frosting recipe

How to Make the Honey Vanilla Cupcakes:

Preheat Oven to 350˚F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners and set aside.

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together your liquid ingredients (3/4 cup olive oil, 1 cup honey, 4 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 3/4 cup milk) for 1 minute on high or until well blended. P.S. This OXO Adjustable Measuring Cup is fantastic for sticky ingredients like honey, peanut butter or Nutella if you need to measure it. NO WASTE!

2. In a separate large bowl, whisk together: 1 3/4 cups cake flour, 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1 Tbsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp salt.

3. Fold the dry ingredients into your wet ingredients 1/3 at a time and Blend until just combined. The batter should still be a little lumpy.

4. Use an ice cream scoop to transfer batter into the cupcake pan. Fill each cupcake about 2/3 of the way up (a full ice cream scoop). Bake at 350˚F for 15 -18 min or until a toothpick comes out clean and tops are starting to turn golden.

Filling the Cupcakes:

1. Once the cupcakes are cooled to room temp, you’re ready to fill them. You can fill them one of two ways: cut out a piece of cupcake from the center and stuff with cherries, or you can use this method: put the cherries into a piping bag with an opening that is wide enough for the cherries to go through. You need something with a firm tip (I just used a couple on the end) to push inside the cupcake so a ziploc won’t work (been there, failed at that).

2. Use a paring knife to slice an “X” into the top of your cupcake going about 1/2 way into the cupcake. Put the tip of your icing bag into the X and squeeze in the filling until your piping tip is pushed out.

Here’s a peek inside: Gahhhh!!!!

Frosting the Cupcakes:

I used my best cupcake frosting recipe and my WILTON 1M Star Tip to top these beauties. It’s a great frosting; firm enough to add a little color and it holds its form really well and stays good at room temp for a few hours making it ideal for a party. Use the back of a spoon to make a little well on top of the cupcake, then place a cherry on top of each cupcake (if desired), you can omit the cherry on the top to make it a real cherry surprise. Make it your own and have fun with it! 😉