Cherry Cupcakes, yumm!

My birthday is coming up. It's a month out and I like to plan ahead as much as possible. I think I will be making these for myself. I have a favorite box cake mix, it's my one (ok, I may have more than one) indulgence that I enjoy. Especially when pared with the rainbow chip frosting. I just found out that I can buy the rainbow chips from Wilton. I'm super excited and I will be adding those to the frosting for my birthday. Another exciting thing that happened was I found natural maraschino cherries at Whole Foods. Thank goodness they are tastier than the originals. Of course they are not as pretty, but they are very delicious. I have to admit that I added red food coloring to the batter since I don't have the natural beet color. Next time I will use. I figured a little wouldn't hurt, since that little bit is all the red dye I put in.

So here's the recipe:

1 10 oz jar of maraschino cherries, liquid reserved and chopped.
2 egg whites beat to stiff peaks
2 cups of flour
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups of sugar
1/2 maraschino juice
1/4 cup of milk
1-2 teaspoons of almond extract, I used 1 and that was plenty for me
red food coloring

Frosting:
3 cups of powdered sugar
1 cup of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla or a little almond would be good too, I would start off small, almond flavor is strong.
reserved juice of maraschino cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, line muffin tin with paper liners.

In a medium pourable bowl add flour, baking powder and salt. In a small pourable bowl mix cherry juice, milk and almond flavor. In a large bowl beat butter, add sugar until combined. Starting with flour mixture, add to butter mixture, then liquid mixture and then ending with flour mixture. I did 3 flour additions and 2 liquid additions. Fold the beaten egg whites into the mixture. Lightly add the chopped cherries and scoop into the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool

To make frosting:
Beat butter and slowly add the powdered sugar until fluffy. Add the cherry juice to your liking, I added all of it! Then hand mix in the vanilla flavor.

Frost your cupcakes to your liking. I just scooped a big amount onto the cupcake and then smoothed it out with my offset spatula.

You can top with a cherry with a stem on top, that would be sweet!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!