Easy Cherry co*ke Cupcakes Recipe with a Surprise Inside (2024)

Posted: May 30, 2021 · Updated: Jun 6, 2023 · By Chrysa

If you love the taste of Cherry co*ke, or if you just love the taste of cherries, this Cherry co*ke Cupcakes recipe is one you’ll want to try!

The most fun thing about these delicious cupcakes is that each one has a whole maraschino cherry hidden away in the middle of the cupcake. It makes for a sweet surprise center.

These cupcakes get their flavor both from Coca-Cola itself, as well as from maraschino cherries and maraschino cherry juice from the jar.

The maraschino cherry liquid packs a lot of flavor! Not only does it add flavor, that cherry juice also helps flavor the cherry frosting and give it a nice tint (that you can also amplify with food coloring).

What are Maraschino Cherries?

Even if you’re not familiar with maraschino cherries, you have likely eaten them. When you get your sundae or shake at an ice cream shop and it’s topped with whipped cream and then a cherry – that’s a maraschino.

Maraschino cherries are sweet cherries that have been preserved and sweetened, and had their red color amplified. They are usually made from light-colored sweet cherries like Rainier or Royal Ann varieties.

You can find maraschino cherries in any grocery store or you can even order them online.

If you end up with more maraschino cherries than you need for this cupcake recipe, you can use the extras to make one of our other maraschino cherry recipes:

• Maraschino Cherry Cookies Recipe
• Maraschino Cherry Cupcakes Recipe

What Type of Cake Mix Should We Use?

To give this recipe it’s rich chocolatey flavor, we start with devil’s food cake. To make the recipe easier, we started with a boxed cake mix, but if you prefer to start from scratch, you can start with your own favorite homemade devils’ food cake recipe.

When starting with the box of cake mix, you’ll use the additional add-in ingredients listed on the box, with the exception of substituting co*ke and maraschino cherry juice for the water, as indicated in the recipe below.

Cherry co*ke Cupcake Recipe

It’s time to move on to the recipe itself, starting with the ingredients! You can see the detailed ingredient amount as well as step-by-step instructions in the recipe card below.

What you’ll need to make Cherry co*ke Cupcakes:

For the Cake:

• Box of Devils Food Cake Mix plus the ingredients listed on the box
• co*ke
• Maraschino Cherries along with the Maraschino Cherry liquid

Frosting:

• Softened Butter
• Powdered Sugar (Confectioner’s Sugar)
• co*ke
• Maraschino Cherry liquid
• Red Food Coloring (optional)

And last, but not least, more Maraschino Cherries for topping each Cherry co*ke cupcake.

How to Make Cherry co*ke Cupcakes:

Preheat your oven to 350.

Line each cavity of a muffin pan / cupcake pan with paper cupcake liners. Alternatively, you can use a silicone muffin pan that doesn’t need lining.

Make batter according to directions on the cake box, EXCEPT substitute 1 cup co*ke and 1/3 cup cherry liquid for water.

Fill each cupcake cavity 2/3 full and add 1 cherry to the middle of each.

Bake cupcakes according to box directions, remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

For the frosting, whip the butter, co*ke and cherry liquid together and then gradually add powdered sugar.

To make the frosting more bright red, you can add red food coloring to get desired color.

Transfer frosting to a piping bag (or use a ziploc bag with one corner cut off) and frost each cupcake.

Top each cupcake with another cherry.