Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes with Salted Honey Frosting and Sour Cherry Salt Garnish

There is a lot less cupcake baking happening in the summer, because I just have no desire to turn the oven on when it's 90 degrees out side. That being said with all the fresh organic produce available there are times when I can't help but be inspired. You may need a few ingredients that you don't have lying around the house like pink Himalayan sea salt, cherries, and raw honey, but these things should be pretty easy to find. So here it is, my kick off to the summer cupcake.



Cupcakes
~makes 2 dozen 350 oven
1 stick  butter, room temperature1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs room temperature
 2 cups all-purpose flour
 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
 1/2 teaspoon salt
 1 cup milk
 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup cut black cherries

First, chop up your cherries. When selecting the cherries make sure to pick the firmest of the bunch. The softer ones along with being harder to cut will also be sour. I cut them in half, removed the pit, and then quartered the halves. Chop up about a cup and then set them aside.














Cream butter and sugar for three minutes. Combine and whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. In a measuring cup combine milk and vanilla and set that aside.

Once butter and sugar is creamed add eggs one at a time while stirring. Once combined start to alternate adding wet and dry ingredients a third at a time and mixing between each. Once all the wet and dry in added, fold in the cherries with a spatula.

Measure out in to baking cups and bake for 20 minutes in the oven, rotating once after 12.


















Frosting
1/4 cup raw honey
8oz cream cheese
1 tablespoon pink sea salt
1 cherry
4 cups powdered sugar
1 stick butter softened.
sea salt for sprinkling


Put raw honey in your mixer and let it run for about 10 or 15 minutes. While that is going measure out about a table spoon of sea salt in to a bowl. Squeeze a cherry over it, try not to get any of the fleshy part in the salt you only want juice. Mix with a fork and set aside.

Add the cream cheese to your honey while it's mixing, then butter and then half the sugar. Add the rest of the sugar and make sure to scrape the bowl, the honey might be stuck at the bottom. 




This is not a stiff frosting, so frost appropriately. Frost the cupcakes, sprinkle each with a little sea salt. Then take a pinch of the sour cherry salt and literally throw it at each cupcake.

Enjoy