dggfghddss: Black Forest Cupcakes {MSC}

Necessity is the mother of invention.

--Plato

If you've been following my blog this week, you know that we've been snowed in for a record five days! A measly six inches of snow has frozen a southern town - a town that does not own a snowplow, a sand truck or a shovel. For a week, we've been without school, without mail and without pizza delivery! As a midwestern girl living in the south, I used to laugh when the mere mention of snow would send people into a frenzy, emptying the grocery store shelves of milk, bread and water, but no more! Shamefully, I looked in the garage this week and realized we owned neither a snow shovel nor an ice scraper! I'm turning into a southern belle!

Next time I will head their warning.... Next time I will buy my cupcake ingredients in advance!

As for today, I will listen to Plato and use my resourcefulness to bake my version of.....

Black Forest Cupcakes!

When I realized that driving to the grocery store was probably not a safe idea, I rummaged through the pantry to see which ingredients I had on hand. As I compared them to the recipe, I counted at least seven items missing. Not a good start to a cupcake recipe. What could I make that would combine the elements crucial to a Black Forest Cupcake - Chocolate, Cherries and Cream?

I did find two types of cherries - dried sour cherries and sweet maraschino cherries.

Although the maraschino cherries were much more beautiful, I opted for the dried sour cherries, imagining their taste would best compliment the element of chocolate.

I reconstituted them a bit in hot water and added them to a cheesecake filling. The cheesecake filling was not-too-sweet and proved to be the perfect compliment for the sour cherries.

I didn't have sour cream or dark brown sugar, so I used Martha's delicious one-bowl chocolate recipe instead, again, using the old vinegar-in-the-milk trick in place of buttermilk.

I put a dollop of cherry cheesecake filling in the center of each chocolate cupcake and baked as directed.

Looking for a little more cherry flavor, I decided to convert Martha's Strawberry Meringue Buttercream into Sour Cherry Swiss Meringue. I did this by reconstituting more cherries, processing them in the blender, and adding them to the buttercream at the end.