Blackberry Vanilla Bean & Black Forest Cupcakes

These are Blackberry Vanilla Bean and Black Forest Cupcakes. I really liked the outcome of both of them. These are both a little more time consuming and expensive to make, but they are worth it. give yourself at least 30 minutes of prep time for both of them.

Blackberry Vanilla Bean Cupcake:

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of blackberries

Try smooshing the blackberries before you add them to the mix.. The batter should be purple.
After you have the mix all together, put 1 tbsp of the batter in the cupcake liner (in the pan). Set that aside for a few minutes. Put a handful of blackberries in a bowl and smoosh them together so all of the juice comes out. It may help putting them in the microwave for about 10 seconds first. Take the cupcake pan with the 1/2 filled cups, and with a spoon, drizzle about a teaspoon the blackberry juice over the batter. Once that is done, you can put the other tbsp of the batter over that.

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Take out, let cool.

Vanilla Bean Frosting:

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup soy milk
1/2 of the extract from a vanilla bean pod

Once the cupcakes are frosted, you can garnish with a fresh blackberry!

Black Forest Cupcakes:

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup of maraschino cherry grenadine

about 15 fresh black cherries (use later)

This is close to the same process you go through with the blackberry cupcakes. Once you have your cupcake mix well blended, put 1 tbsp of the batter in the cupcake liner (in the pan). Set that aside for a few minutes.
Then you take the black cherries you set aside, and you slice them. you can usually get 4 slices from each cherry. This part can be a pain because the cherries do have pits inside of them.
Once you have your cherry slices, lay them on top of the batter in the cupcake pan. 3 or 4 slices fit per cup. After this, put one more tbsp of the batter over the cherries.

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Take out, let cool.
Keep in mind that the cherries can be very juicy depending on how ripe they are. You may want to leave them in for a few minutes longer than that.

Once cooled, frost with a simple vanilla frosting.

Simple Vanilla Frosting:

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup soy milk

Garnish with a fresh black cherry and chopped pieces of chocolate

Happy Baking!