Valentine's Cupcakes

I'm on a cupcake kick. I blame the book 101 Cupcakes for this. There are just too many scrumptious sounding recipes in it. I feel the need to try them all. I tried 2 new ones for these cupcakes: Black Forest Chocolate and Chocolate Mayonnaise.

I took one chocolate cake mix, divided it into 2 separate bowls, and made a half-recipe of each flavor. So easy. This book is great . . . well, almost. I struggled with her Chocolate Mayonnaise recipe. I followed it exactly, but all it called for was the cake mix, mayonaise, and a little bit of water. When I mixed it all together it was a solid glob--nothing like a normal cake batter consistency. Strange. I don't know--maybe this is how it is supposed to be--but I was skeptical, so I turned to google, and found other Chocolate Mayonnaise recipes. They all had a little more water and some eggs, so I added in the eggs and water, and it turned out perfect.

I did follow 101 Cupcakes suggestion to use a cream cheese frosting with the Chocolate Mayonnaise cupcake. She was right--those 2 flavors tasted fabulous together.

I piped some hearts with white candy melts dyed pink. Just the right touch, don't you think?

Black forest has always been one of my favorite flavors, so I was way excited for this recipe (did you know that Blue Bunny used to put out a Black Forest yogurt--I ate it every morning for over a year--scrumptious!--then they discontinued production of that flavor--Catastrophe!--that was a sad day at my house when I found that out).

I made a whipped chocolate ganache for the icing that I piped on with a large star tip, making a cup in the center that I filled in with extra cherry pie filling. Can you just say Heavenly?! Totally my favorite--although everyone else I talked to like the chocolate mayonaise better--go figure. I didn't tell most people that it was Chocolate Mayonaise until after they tried it because I didn't want them to be biased before hand (I mean really--who would have thought Mayonaise in cake would taste good, but it totally does--trust me).

Well, with a few minor adjustments to at least one of the recipes, these cupcakes turned out great, and I will definitely mark these recipes as keepers.