Valentine's Day Treats- Cupcakes!

As we all know, it's Valentines Day, the holiday set aside to indulge our sweet tooth and honor our sweet heart. So on this special day, I decided to share a special cupcake.

Ok, enough of that fluffiness. For those of you sharing this day with a significant other, this is a great little treat to whip up for them. For those of you that aren't really celebrating this holiday, for whatever reason, it's a yummy dessert that you could make for fun.

I made two versions; Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes, and Vanilla Cherry Cupcakes. They're made pretty much in the exact same way, except one uses chocolate cake batter and one uses vanilla, so you might see pictures of one or the other. Easy cheesy. And guess what else...I used boxed cake mix. Oh my word. I know. But it works. And while I don't mind baking from scratch, I also don't mind using a couple convenience items occasionally. The "icing" is actually chocolate ganache, so it's not the really sugary-sweet frosting most cupcakes come dressed in. I'm not huge on frosting, so this works for me. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
-1 box cake mix, chocolate or vanilla
-whatever ingredients specified on the cake mix (eggs, water, and oil, usually)
-1 large can cherry pie filling
-paper/foil baking cups
-1/2 cup heavy cream(for ganache)
-1 cup chocolate chips (for ganache), I used regular semi-sweet for the chocolate cake and white chocolate for the vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to temperature given on cake mix.

Place the baking cups into a muffin tin. Prepare the cake batter according to package directions.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners in the muffin tins, about 2/3 full.

I think most cake mixes will yield 24 cupcakes. Next, spoon three cherries from the pie filling can into each cupcake.

Bake as specified by cake mix package.

When cake is baked, remove from oven and let cool. While cupcakes are cooling, prepare the ganache. In a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium/low heat.

When the cream is heated through, add the chocolate chips

and stir frequently until the chocolate has melted into the cream, creating a thick sauce texture. Remove from the heat and let cool just enough that it's not runny but still very spreadable. Spread on top of the cupcakes as icing.

I topped mine with another pie filling cherry,

but you could sprinkle it lightly with cocoa powder or powdered sugar as another way to make it look pretty. Or you could just leave it alone and let the ganache be shiny and pretty on its own.

Yummy!