Page 134 Black Forest Cupcakes

"Chocolate and cherries are a match made in heaven - or, in this case - the Black Forest region of Germany, where the original layer cake was created (and cherries are abundant.) These miniature versions of the classic German dessert are saturated with cherry liqueur, layered with sweet pastry cream and preserved cherrries, and drizzled with rich chocolate ganache." - Martha

Today was Labor Day and I was entertaining for the afternoon. My planned dessert, Black Forest Cupcakes, an attempt at an elegant dessert to "Wow!" my friends. I made the chocolate cakes according to directions with minor changes, no buttermilk, and I used light brown sugar instead of dark brown sugar. I also chose to bake six in my mini-bundt pans but the rest I made in a standard cupcake tin. I thought it was a great choice because the designs are so pretty and again, I was thinking to "Wow!" my guests. I think it worked; everybody enjoyed the cherries and chocolate treat so much there was no conversation for about 5 minutes!

The recipe calls for pastry cream and chocolate ganache of which I made the ganache just like recipe says: heavy cream, corn syrup and semi-sweet chocolate pieces, but the pastry cream I copped out and used some instant vanilla pudding with a little leftover buttercream frosting mixed in. I've made pastry cream a ton before and I knew what it takes to do so. I had guests in the house and wanted to serve the dessert before it got too late. Pastry cream requires cooking and cooling; didn't have the time. As you can see by my picture, the look came out the same and the taste was sufficient. Pastry cream when made correctly is so smooth and rich, you can hardly taste it; that's the difference between my fake version and the real thing...mine was tasty, but not smooth or rich.