The cupcakes were made with just like we do the Cheerwine Cake, I didn't change anything there. Instead of the normal icing that goes on the cake with the nuts or the chocolate frosting my sister has used in the past, Em decided that she wanted a Cherry Buttercream.
Basically, a buttercream is butter, milk, powdered sugar and vanilla. This here from Taste of Home is a good website that shows how to make buttercream and variations to those. However, I make mine with 2 sticks unsalted butter and it is all done by taste and sight. I creaming the butter, adding some powered sugar and a little milk and vanilla (or almond or other flavor) extract, tasting, then adjusting.
For the Cherry Buttercream, I made my basic recipe using vanilla extract then added a little No-Sugar Black Cherry Jell-O and some cherry juice - again tasting as I went to make sure the cherry flavor was there but not overpowering. I did also add a couple of drops of red food coloring to make the color a darker pink than what the Jell-O and juice gave it.
Em then topped the cupcakes with a cherry which made them ready to enjoy.
