Spring is (finally) in the air.
I think.
Maybe.
For this week, anyway.
After hearing so much about the famous Washington, D.C. cherry blossoms, it’s exciting to finally get to actually see them. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy for Spring and the end of waking up to snow every other morning for 5 months straight.
These cherry blossom cupcakes were quite fun to bake, to design, to photograph, to eat… The crazy thing is that there’s actually no chocolate in the cupcakes; they get their deep color (and, surprisingly, a somewhat-chocolatey flavor) purely from the cherries. You can easily leave them unfrosted and serve them for breakfast as muffins. But do try the hot pink frosting if you get a chance—It comes together in under a minute, and no food coloring is needed!
Cherry Blossom Cupcakes
Adapted from Hummingbird Cupcakes
- 2 cups cherries, pitted (240g) (I used frozen)
- 2 tbsp milk of choice (30g)
- 2 1/2 tsp white or apple cider vinegar (12g)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract (8g)
- 3 tbsp vegetable or coconut oil (30g)
- 1 cup spelt or all-purpose or Bob’s gf flour (130g)
- only if using the gf flour, add 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/2 cup sugar of choice or xylitol (90g) (Can reduce to 1/3 cup if a slightly-sweet muffin is preferred)
- 1/16 tsp pure stevia, or 2 additional tbsp sugar of choice
- 1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, optional
Cherry Blossom Cupcakes Recipe: Preheat the oven to 350 F, and line a muffin tin with liners. Blend together first 5 ingredients until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine all remaining ingredients and stir well. Pour wet into dry, and stir until just evenly mixed. Pour into 10-11 muffin tins and bake 19-20 minutes or until cupcakes have domed and a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Allow to sit 10 minutes before removing from the tins. Frost with your favorite frosting, and add real or fake cherry blossoms if desired for garnish. For the frosting in the photos, I scraped the cream off a can of full-fat coconut milk and mixed it with beet juice (2 tsp per every 1/2 cup cream) and a little stevia to taste. No food coloring needed! (If you go this route, it’s best to frost right before serving, due to the lack of preservatives in this all-natural frosting.)
View Cherry Blossom Cupcakes Nutrition Facts
Question of the Day: What’s your favorite way to eat cherries?Â
My absolute favorite way to eat cherries is frozen, straight from the bag. They have an almost ice-cream-like richness, and you don’t have to worry about taking out the annoying pits. I can go through a bag of frozen cherries pretty quickly.
![mocha cookies_thumb[3]](https://lett-trim.today/wp-content/uploads/Cherry-Blossom-Cupcakes_7541/mocha-cookies_thumb3.jpg "mocha cookies_thumb[3]")
Link of the Day:Â Mocha Coconut Chocolate Dipped Macaroons
Your recipes are SO amazing!! I am wondering what the vinegar does? I have used it before in pumpkin pancakes and it makes them taste great! I just don’t really know what it does!! Do you?!
Vinegar, in combination with baking soda, helps the cupcakes rise by producing CO2.
These look AMAZING! They also must contain plenty of flavor! I must make these, and devour them! I never would of dreamed cupcakes could ever be so dark without chocolate!
These are absolutely stunning! I wonder if raspberries would work… I seem to have a lot of frozen ones….
Same question as the commenter above: Do you put the pitted cherries in whole or blended up somehow? I don’t see any cherry chunks 🙂
Sorry for the confusion. Yes, they are blended into the mix. I changed the instructions to make that more clear.
I love all of your recipes, and this one looks amazing! I made your chocolate cake with the mint frosting the other day. Awesome! They must think I’m crazy when I go through the checkout with so many cans of coconut milk 🙂 Anyway, I had a quick question. Are these tart or sweet cherries?
Thanks!
Sweet
I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeee it! Katie the design is so cute! I will try this for my little princess
xoxoxo
Shruti
http://shrutigoenka.snydle.com/blueberry-cheesecake-recipe-a-must-one-to-try.html
I was so excited to make these. They look absolutely delicious! However, mine did not come out the way pictured. Please help! They never became dome shaped. They never really cooked through and are gummy. I used gluten free wheat flour and xanthan gum. Frozen cherries. Real sugar. Vegetable oil. And mini chips. What did I do wrong?
Thanks
What exactly is gluten-free wheat flour?
There was a typo in my previous post. I used gluten free, wheat-free flour. However, it was not Bob’s. I remade the recipe today with all-purpose flour because the batter was so yummy yesterday….I knew they would be good. Today, using the AP flour, they are delicious. I will try next time with Bob’s GF.
Thanks so much for the recipe.
Ah! YUM!
Hmmm… well, my memories for cherry related recipes mostly come from helping out at my mum’s cousin’s farm in Germany about six (yikes… how did that happen?!) years ago. They had two varieties of cherry trees on the little farm and my favourite thing to do during my stay was to pick (and eat) tons and tons of cherries!
These are beautiful! I love that they are colored solely by cherries!! I thought when seeing them that they were chocolate muffins. How cool. Like black forest…without the chocolate, haha.
Hi Katie! Love your site and recipes… Just curious, I’m looking into the blood type theory, have you ever figured out your blood type? If so may I ask what it is? I am A+ which is probably why I can be veg no problem if the theory is right… Thanks!