Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

I knew I wanted to make something chocolate for Valentine's and I knew I wouldn't have a ton of time since it was a week night. I also knew I didn't want just plain chocolate.  So I ended up with chocolate and cherry.  These turned out just right.I 'm glad the hubby liked my Valentine's dessert too :) I've been wanting to come up with my own cake recipe, but have been kind of hesitant. Luckily, this was not an epic fail so I may continue to experiment some more.

Ingredients
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
½ cup  + 2 Tbsp cake flour
1/3 cup of cocoa powser
½ tsp of kosher salt
1 tsp of baking soda
½ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup of granulated sugar
½ cup of vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla
8 maraschino cherries, finely chopped
¼ cup maraschino cherry juice

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350. Line pan with cupcake wrappers. Sift together the flours, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. Mix in the sugars. Add in vegetable oil and whisk until blended. Stir in vanilla, chopped cherries, and cherry juice. Fill cupcakes about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 or until toothpick comes out clean. Do not overcook. Top with chocolate ganache and maraschino cherry.

Chocolate Cherry Ganache

12 ounces of chocolate, chopped into small pieces (I just used a whole bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1 cup of heavy cream
1 Tbsp of Maraschino cherry juice
2 Tbsp of Kahula

Heat heavy cream over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil. Immediately pour over chocolate. Add in cherry juice and Kahula. Whisk by hand or with electric mixer until combined. . If you want more of a glaze, you can use the chocolate almost immediately. For a thicker frosting let sit for about an hour or chill in the fridge. Do not put in the freezer.

Recipe source:
cupcakes-Harper's Original
Chocolate Cherry Ganache-slightly adapted from Savory Sweet Life