The Story:
Some of my readers have been giving me a hard time about using cake mixes, but I have to stand up for these 98 cent treasures. They are quick, cheap, easy and once you doctor them up, dip them in ganache and top them with buttercream, they are works of art!
The best thing about using a cake mix is that anyone can do it. Your 23-year-old son who has been living off of canned soup at college, your teenage daughter who can’t tell a teaspoon from a tablespoon, and your husband who stays as far away as he can from your beloved Kitchen Aid can ALL make a cake mix recipe.
Cherry Cakes:1 box Vanilla (or French Vanilla) Cake Mix
3 eggs
1 can cherry pie filling
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup buttermilk
White Chocolate Ganache:
¼ cup white chocolate chips
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Chocolate Buttercream:
¾ cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with cupcake liners (yields about 30 cupcakes).
2. Puree cherry pie filling using a blender.
3. In a large bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add almond and vanilla extract and buttermilk.
4. For easy mixing, sift cake mix into egg mixture and add cherry pie filling. Stir only until incorporated.
5. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
6. White Chocolate Ganache: Using the microwave or the stove top, melt chocolate chips in heavy cream, stirring until smooth. (White chocolate burns easily, use low heat and be careful!)
7. Chocolate Buttercream: Beat butter for 3 minutes, then add powdered sugar, cocoa, and vanilla. Beat and add heavy cream or milk until desired consistency in reached.
8. Dip the tops of cooled cupcakes into the ganache and wait for the white chocolate to become more firm. Then pipe chocolate buttercream on top and garnish with a fresh cherry.
Those are beautiful!! And I think cake mixes are AWESOME!:) I'm making your lemon blueberry cupcakes for a luau party tomorrow…can't wait to try them! Thanks so much! Love you site!
You never have to apologize for using a cake mix to make a delectable treat like your cupcakes! That, to me, is brilliant! Your cupcakes look delicious, and I'm sure they are. Thanks for the great recipe!
I am so sorry that so many people give you a hard time about cake mixes…seriously people!!!! I have heard from more than one "professional baker" that Duncan Hines Cake mixes are used a LOT more often than "foodies" realize BECAUSE they give such great results and are so easy!
In my opinion, it's all about the frosting/topping/decoration anyway 🙂 A good cake only needs awesome frosting/topping/decoration…and you certainly did that with this recipe…(not to mention the cherry cakes look divine on their own)!!!
Great job and just "SHUSH" those naysayers. Sending love your way 🙂 Thanks for your time and effort!!
I am so excited when you post more recipes using a cake mix. They come out great here at high altitude in the Rocky Mountains. I'm looking forward to making your Double Chocolate
Cherry Cupcakes. They look and sound so great!
Thanks!
V. A. H.
Those are absolutely adorable! I really need to come watch you make your buttercrem though, because I can never get the consistency of mine right. It always ends up too thin and to thicken it, I have to add more powdered sugar… which makes it insanely over sweet 🙁
Thanks for the great post and beautiful pictures!
Oh woww! I bet these pack a punch of cherry flavour, such a pretty natural colour too! Lovely recipe, thank you 🙂
Yummy…now I'm drooling
Just made these, and they are absolutely delicious, and I am all in favor of the use of box mixes here!
Lizzy, it is easy to see that your blog encourages people to bake and have fun trying new recipes. Both are far more important than "from scratch" snobbism, so please ignore those cake mix naysayers! Fear of a long ingredient list, recipe failure, or just inexperience keeps many from baking – how does that benefit them or their family? Fresh add ins and a high quality mix give results most are more than happy with – nothing wrong with that!
Love the doctored box recipes! I make those 10 times more than from scratch. Also, I have noticed that when I bake cakes from scratch that they go stale faster and end up being thrown away rather than eaten (who can eat 24 cupcakes in 1 day? Sick!).
I for one love your fancy-ified cake mix recipes. They let me skip the fiddly measuring and sifting of dry ingredients and go straight to the fun parts, like breaking the eggs and frosting the cupcakes.
This looks so yummy and I'd love to make them but I was wondering if you use a mix to which you are normally supposed to add stuff like eggs and butter to, or just add water? Please reply! 🙂
I usually use a Pillsbury mix which calls for oil, eggs and water. Good luck!
Thank you, I just made them, they're so yummy <3 !
I love this recipe. I was asked to make the cake for a friends baby shower. She wanted something with cherry. I looked through all my recipes and could not find anything I loved. I found this recipe, and tried it. Guess what? She loved it! But I am going to make homemade butter cream frosting with Lime flavor to make Cherry Limaides! Thanks for the great ideas!
You do not call for oil – I'm assuming this needs to be part of the recipe for the cherry cake? I'm confused as the eggs were listed seperatly? Thanks for your help.
No oil, only use the ingredients listed!
Thanks for a great blog
Cherry Fruit cake
I just made these for a family get together…they are AMAZING and nobody had any idea they came from a box mix. I see nothing wrong with using a boxed cake mix, especially since you doctor it with a few of your own touches anyways. Ignore the naysayers, they don’t know what they are talking about…obviously they have never tried any of your recipes!!! 🙂
I like this web blog very much so much good info.
Hi! Do you think it would be okay to substitute the cherry pie filling for apple pie filling? Thanks!
Yup!
I love your website. You have so many delicous recipes. I never have to look any where elsr again for cupcake recipes. I made the Almond joy cupcakes. Awesome. Everyone loved them . did tweak the crream cheese frosting abit. Just added a tsp. of almond extract & & coconut extract to give it more flavor & added some crushed almonds . To die for!! thanks for all your good recipes. Can’t wait to try more!
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I am so sorry that so many people give you a hard time about cake mixes…seriously people!!!! I have heard from more than one “professional baker” that Duncan Hines Cake mixes are used a LOT more often than “foodies” realize BECAUSE they give such great results and are so easy!
Hi there! This looks amazing! do you have any advice for making the recipe into a cake instead of cupcakes? Thank you!
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