My good friend Sarah has told me lots of great things about Clean Eating magazine, so I thought I would check it out. I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on this for so long! Although the mag is a little more militant about eating “clean” than I am, I loved that all of the recipes use real foods. they have some really creative ideas! I don’t think I would ever follow a recipe 100% but it does have some great ideas. For example these cupcakes, which were featured on the cover of the May/June issue. I was so excited to see a “flourless” style cake that wasn’t loaded with butter and cream!
I’ve been going to a new grocery store lately that has a great International section (Prince Chopper in Westgate for my fellow Albanians) and I’ve had my eye on this jar of cherries in the Polish section for a few weeks. I’ve been dying for an excuse to buy them! Chocolate and Cherry cupcakes seemed like the perfect reason. 
I added these to the center of each cupcake- three seemed like a good amount. The flavor combination was perfect! The only downside was that the extra moisture from the cherries made the bottoms of the cupcakes a little mushy. All in all, they were like the perfect flourless cake though. Dense, Rich, and Fudgey. A total winner.
Also, I found that the recipe made more batter than I needed. So I made a tray of mini cupcakes with the rest. Those didn’t get cherries, and were topped with coconut. Delish! No soggy bottoms on these babies! (But no delicious sour cherry flavor either…) I couldn’t decide which I liked better. They were both amazing! A recipe that will stay on my collection for sure.
If you want the chocolate coconut cupcakes, omit cherries and top each cupcake with a sprinkle of coconut.
(Nearly) Flourless Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes
Ingredients
- Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup whole white wheat flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup fat free sour cream
- 1/3 cup skim milk
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites
- 1 cup pitted sour cherries
- 2 tsp. skim milk
- 1 oz dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine cocoa powder, 3/4 cup sugar, flour, and salt. In a medium mixing bowl, combine sour cream, milk, oil, vanilla, and 1 whole egg. Mix wet mixture into dry mixture.
- Add egg whites to a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer (chilling the bowl helps here). Using an egg beater of mixer, beat the eggs until they begin to get foamy. Add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until they form medium-still peaks. Fold this into your batter.
- Line cupcake pan with liners, then fill each about half way. Top each cupcake with 3 sour cherries, then top with more batter to fill each cup 3/4 of the way. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.Set aside to cool completely.
- Microwave chocolate chips on 50% power for 2 minutes or until melted. Combine with milk, stirring well until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Top cupcakes with glaze.
Sandra says
03/14 at 9:37 amI picked up some morello cherries from Trader Joe’s and can’t wait to use them in cupcakes! Chocolate and cherries are a perfect combination.
Sara says
04/26 at 6:20 pmThe cupcakes are adorable and sound delicious!
Bread and Jam says
04/24 at 10:15 pmOh goodness! I had a cake similar to this at a bday party a few years back but I never got the recipe. Your cupcakes look even better than the cake was. Thank you for sharing this!
Sweta says
04/24 at 9:55 amI love chocolates in any form-this is definitely drool material.
BTW,you’ll find the jaggery,flattened rice and the fenugreek seeds in any Indian store.
Kelly says
04/23 at 9:36 amWhat a wonderful cupcake! I love how you slimmed it down. You chose ingredients that will keep the cakes moist but cut the fat. Clever! I love cherry, so these are going on my ‘Must Try’ list. Yum!
franki durbin says
04/23 at 8:56 amhow fun! my mom would LOVE those. I’m not a cherry person myself…but seemingly every other woman on the planet swoons for this combo. nice work!
Sophia says
04/23 at 8:54 amwow…a chocolate cupcake that is actually NUTRITIOUS AND TASTY. that’s a dream come true!
Taylor says
04/22 at 11:23 pmThanks. Ya, I’m hoping the walking will be good enough exercise. 🙂
Great cupcakes, they look wonderful!
LK says
04/22 at 9:58 pmscate- I bet that would be amazing!!
lesley- I love it too- it makes me sad that I was miissing out for so long!
erica- yeah, I thought it was worth it and it wasn’t really a huge problem. I just figured I should give people a warning. 🙂
carol- come get em! I have a bunch in my freezer right now.
Natasha - 5 Star Foodie says
04/22 at 9:57 pmWhy didn’t I see this earlier today – this is exactly the dessert I was craving. I’ll have to make it tomorrow! Yum!
Reeni says
04/22 at 8:18 pmI was craving cherry cupcakes all day today! These look scrumptious!!!!
CG the Foodie says
04/22 at 7:00 pmYum!!!!!!!! Mail me some please!
Erica says
04/22 at 4:58 pmThese look freaking awesome! I bet the cherry flavor was awesome (and totally worth the soggy bottoms 😉
Marisa (Trim The Fat) says
04/22 at 3:57 pmOoooh, I can almost taste them…
I have that issue of Clean Eating; I’ll have to check that out!
Maria says
04/22 at 3:42 pmI have to make these for my brother, he loves chocolate and cherries together. They look delish!
Lesley says
04/22 at 3:07 pmYum, those look fantastic!! Clean Eating is one of my favorite magainzes!
jenn says
04/22 at 1:31 pmOh chocolate cupcakes a begging to be made in my house right now. These looks wonderful! Fantastic!
Scate says
04/22 at 11:51 amThese look fantastic! I have a few jars of morello cherries in my cabinet right now that are pleading to be used. I wonder how they would handle when baked in a ramekin and served with ice cream?
doggybloggy says
04/22 at 12:37 pmwow! these cupcakes are all kinds of good! I bet the cherry surprise is outstanding!