Drain the juice from the morello cherries and boil it down to 125 mL (4.2 fl oz)
or ½ cup to concentrate the flavor. Set aside to cool.
Place the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, gelatin, salt and baking powder into a
bowl and whisk together.
Make a well in the center, then add the oil, egg yolks, concentrated morello cherry
juice, and red coloring, but do not stir.
In a different bowl, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft
peaks form.
Using the same beaters, mix the egg yolk and flour mixture on low speed until
just combined.
Fold the egg whites into the cake batter in three batches
Fill each cup in a cupcake pan to ¾ full. (Using an ice cream scoop makes this
job easy.) Bake for 11 minutes or until they spring back when lightly touched. Cool
completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
Leave the cream cheese and butter out of the fridge to soften for at least an
hour. Place them both into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until smooth
and pale. Add the icing sugar and lemon juice and beat to combine. Gently fold
in the mascarpone.
Assembly:
Take one cupcake and break it into small crumbs. Pipe frosting onto the remaining
cupcakes using a star tip, then sprinkle with red velvet crumbs.
Notes
Excerpted with permission from Crazy Sweet Creations. By Ann Reardon, Mango Publishing Group, 2021.