Cherry Surprise Honey Cupcakes Recipe
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The cherry surprise in these cupcakes makes me ridiculously happy. The kiddos in our family usually just lick the cream off cupcakes (I was beginning to think they’d be equally pleased with a plate of frosting), but they actually ate these cupcakes. They were smitten. My cousin’s wife, Katya (who loves to bake), shared the idea with me to fill these cupcakes with cherries,… mmm.
I’ve been on a honey spree so I tried honey instead of sugar in the cupcake recipe. I also used olive oil instead of butter and didn’t notice a difference in taste, but the next day, the batch of cupcakes with oil were soft as ever even after being refrigerated whereas the ones with butter in the batter… butter in the batter (I like how that sounds, sorry), as I was saying, butter in the batter (ha, ha) made the cupcakes firm the next day.
I tested this recipe thrice before posting (butter and sugar, butter and honey, olive oil and honey). The last one was my best batch (Otherwise I probably would have quite after the second batch, but I didn’t so now I’m up to my ears in cupcakes ;)). This recipe yields 24 cupcakes. You can easily cut everything in half and make 12. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 24 Honey Cupcakes:
1 3/4 cup of cake flour (not self-rising) – click here for a quick video on how to make cake flour
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour *measured correctly
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup extra light olive oil (do not use extra virgin!)
4 eggs
3/4 cup 2% or whole milk (if using sugar, use 1 cup milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup honey (or 1 1/2 cups sugar)
Cherry Pie Filling or your favorite canned fruit
*Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly
Click here for the perfect cupcake frosting recipe
How to Make the Honey Vanilla Cupcakes:
Preheat Oven to 350˚F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners and set aside.
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together your liquid ingredients (3/4 cup olive oil, 1 cup honey, 4 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 3/4 cup milk) for 1 minute on high or until well blended. P.S. This OXO Adjustable Measuring Cup
2. In a separate large bowl, whisk together: 1 3/4 cups cake flour, 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1 Tbsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp salt.
3. Fold the dry ingredients into your wet ingredients 1/3 at a time and Blend until just combined. The batter should still be a little lumpy.
4. Use an ice cream scoop to transfer batter into the cupcake pan. Fill each cupcake about 2/3 of the way up (a full ice cream scoop). Bake at 350˚F for 15 -18 min or until a toothpick comes out clean and tops are starting to turn golden.
Filling the Cupcakes:
1. Once the cupcakes are cooled to room temp, you’re ready to fill them. You can fill them one of two ways: cut out a piece of cupcake from the center and stuff with cherries, or you can use this method: put the cherries into a piping bag with an opening that is wide enough for the cherries to go through. You need something with a firm tip (I just used a couple on the end) to push inside the cupcake so a ziploc won’t work (been there, failed at that).
2. Use a paring knife to slice an “X” into the top of your cupcake going about 1/2 way into the cupcake. Put the tip of your icing bag into the X and squeeze in the filling until your piping tip is pushed out.
Here’s a peek inside: Gahhhh!!!!
Frosting the Cupcakes:
I used my best cupcake frosting recipe and my WILTON 1M Star Tip
Cherry Surprise Honey Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
- 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup extra light olive oil, do not use extra virgin!
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup 2% or whole milk, ,or if using sugar use 1 cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup honey, or 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 cups Cherry Pie Filling, You can also use fresh berries
Instructions
How to Make the Honey Vanilla Cupcakes:
- Preheat Oven to 350˚F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together your liquid ingredients (3/4 cup olive oil, 1 cup honey, 4 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 3/4 cup milk) for 1 minute on high or until well blended.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together: 1 3/4 cups cake flour, 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1 Tbsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp salt.
- Fold the dry ingredients into your wet ingredients 1/3 at a time and Blend until just combined. The batter should still be a little lumpy.
- Use an ice cream scoop to transfer batter into the lined cupcake pan. Fill each cupcake about 2/3 of the way up (a full ice cream scoop). Bake at 350˚F for 15 -18 min or until a toothpick comes out clean and tops are starting to turn golden.
Filling the Cupcakes:
- Once the cupcakes are cooled to room temp, you're ready to fill them.This can be done one of two ways, cut out a piece of cupcake from the center and stuff with cherries, or you can put the cherries into a piping bag with an opening that is wide enough for the cherries to go through. You need something with a firm tip (I just used a coupler on the end) to push inside the cupcake (so a ziploc won't work; been there, failed at that).
- Use a paring knife to slice an "X" into the top of your cupcake going about 1/2 way into the cupcake. Put the tip of your icing bag into the X and squeeze in the filling until your piping tip is pushed out.
- I frosted the Cupcakes with the "Cupcake Frosting Recipe" using my WILTON 1M Star Tip to top these beauties. It's a great frosting; firm enough to add a little color and it holds its form really well and stays good at room temp for a few hours making it ideal for a party. 4. Use the back of a spoon to make a little well on top of the cupcake, then place a cherry on top of each cupcake (if desired), you can omit the cherry on the top to make it a real cherry surprise. 😉
Nutrition Per Serving
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Seems like a great recipe, but i leave in Italy and there’s only extra virgin oil that can be found. If I use butter or coconut oil, will the measurements be the same? Thank you very much!
Hi Asia! You can use any neutral tasting oil (like vegetable or canola oil if you have this). Coconut oil may work fine as well. 🙂
Hi, what and how much I can use instead of light olive oil? I have only extra virgin at home and want to try to make them now. Thank you!
Hi Anna, I don’t recommend using extra virgin olive oil for this recipe.
Could you please give us the metric measurements as well. Thank you!!
Done! I have added that to the recipe card.
Hi, I will give you 5 stars because that was amazing❤️
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Dante!
Hey Natasha,
Do you think it will make a difference if I use natural grandpas home made honey instead of bought?
Hello Ilona, I think that would work the same although I haven’t really tried that honey yet if it’s the classic honey, it should work well.
Hi natasha, your recipes are amazing. I have a doubt. My oven bakes only 12 cupcakes at once. Can I rest the remaining batter on the counter until first half is done and bake it later. Will it affect the batter if I rest it on the counter?
Hi Shahina, I haven’t tested that to say for sure how it would affect the second batch but since the baking time is not too long, I think it will work. Keep in mind the second batch always seems to bake up a little faster (if you are using the same warm pan and for me personally, my oven just gets hotter), so keep an eye on that second batch 🙂
I love how you concerned to reply to everyone. Thankyou❤
You’re welcome! 🙂
I tried baking this recipe (the all honey version) yesterday, and found it didn’t come out well for me.The cupcakes rose, but were an unpleasant texture for cupcakes – not fluffy and moist, but more dense and “bready”. They’re edible, but embarrassing to give to other people.
Note: I made these changes: halved the recipe exactly (which made about 10 cupcakes). I substituted the cake flour using the cornflour + plain flour method. Otherwise, I followed the recipe as per instructions.
As other people seem to have had more success with the recipe, it’d be nice to know where I might have gone wrong.
Hi, I’m always happy to help troubleshoot. These are normally supposed to be fluffy and soft. I think the likely culprit is the flour substitution as this recipe was developed for cake flour which produces a much softer crumb than corn flour.
Thank you for your reply (didn’t see the reply until now, whoops!). Unfortunately cake flour isn’t available in the UK. (I’ve seen various websites recommend the plain flour + cornflour substitution, it’s a shame it doesn’t seem to work here 🙁 ).
Thanks again.
Cake flour is very easy to make though – here is a good tutorial.
Hi Natasha, that is exactly the substitution I followed. (Cornstarch is called cornflour in the UK, sorry for any confusion).
Hi I am wondering if I can make this a cake instead of cupcakes? And would the cooking time be different? I want to make a birthday cake for my daughter this recipe looks perfect as she does not have refined sugar. Thanks so much
That is a great question but I haven’t tested it as a cake so I can’t say for sure. I imagine it would work well though divided between 2 nine inch cake pans. I’m guessing the bake time would be closer to 20 minutes, but be sure to bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
I made these today. I made a trial batch for my daughter’s second birthday party. They turned out fantastic! I used honey instead of sugar and they were plenty sweet enough without being too sweet or tasting too “cakey.” I piped in the cherries with a Wilton Round Tip 2A and it worked fantastic. Frosted with Natasha’s frosting recipe, and used the Open Star Tip 1M. The frosting held its shape well and overall these were just great. I will be making these for the party, thanks!! 🙂
You’re welcome Angela! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review!
Hi natasha. I have a small oven. So, is it okay to cook first 12 leaving the remaining batter on the counter and cook after. Does it affect anything about the batter?
Hi Shahina, I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure, but I think it would be ok to leave them on the counter for the time the first batch is in the oven. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
can I use set honey instead of running honey to make this cake
You will need to turn your honey into Liquid before using it for the recipe for it to blend. To do this, place your honey container in a bowl of very warm water until it softens.
Hi, I really want to know this recipe for 12 cupcakes instead of 24.
Thanks. 🙂
Hi Catina, it would work to just cut all of the ingredients in half.
Thank u sooo much for this amazing recipe. I’ve been looking for a good sugar free recipe for a long time. I made it and it was great!
That’s awesome!! I’m so happy you enjoyed the cupcakes 🙂
Hi Natasha! I have substituted unsweetened applesauce for oil in many muffin/cupcake recipes. I was wondering if I can do the same here or will it alter the taste or moistness of the cupcake? Thanks.
Hi Vicki, I haven’t tested that so I can’t say for sure without experimenting first. Sorry I can’t be more helpful. That does sound like a nice healthy substitution. If you test it out, let me know how you liked it 🙂
Hi, how totally gorgeous these cupcakes look. They truly are beautiful. Thank you so much for the step by step photos, I love it when bloggers take the time and trouble (& I know cos I do it!!) to photograph each stage. It massively slows down the baking process and yet makes the recipe so much easier, so much more access able to the reader. These are definitely on my ‘to try’ list.
Thank you so much Sammie. I completely agree – I love that you do it on your site also. I love that you can look at the recipe and realize – I can totally do this! (even before reading the instructions).
I don’t know what happened in my oven but mine burned! I was so bummed, but they still tasted good, my mom especially loved the cherry surprise! 🙂
That is strange… Did you bake them in the center of the oven? Were you by chance using the convection oven setting which baked faster than conventional? Did you set a timer?
Hi natasha, I have a question if I don’t want us honey can I use sugar? Or I have use honey? And is the receipt will be different I use sugar ?
Valentina, sugar will work :).
Hi Natasha,
Any recommendations on storing these cupcakes if made a day or two ahead? Do they need to be refrigerated and would they still taste good?
Thank you in advance!
Yes you can refrigerate them and I’ve had them in the fridge overnight and they were still great the next day 🙂
Where can I get cup cake flour? I looked at walmart vut could bot find any. Perhaps I can use only regular flour instead of cup cake one? Should it work?!
I actually found an answer in comments.
Thank you.
Oh I’m so glad you found your answer 🙂 Thanks Alla!
Hi,
Could you please tell, which electric beater you have used?
Thanks! 🙂
It was just a cheap sunbeam electric hand beater. I’ve had it for 10 years and it’s still going strong! 😉
your cupcakes look very delicious and healhy but can there be any substitute for cup cake flour
thank you
It’s actually “cake flour”, so I updated it to say, cup of cake flour. I could see how it looks like “cup cake flour” 🙂
sorry i mean cake flour
You could try all purpose flour but they won’t be quite as fluffy 😉
okay thank you…will try it out
I made these today and they came out good but next time i dont want to add any salt.. Can this be passed without salt?
Thanks for posting this recipe! Very simple to make.
You can omit the salt. It’s not much so you really won’t miss it. 🙂
hello Natasha… this recipe sounds yummy… I was wondering.
what would you say if I added a raspberry jam filling instead of the cherry…
would it be yummy too?
I just don’t like cherry very much!!!
Yes, raspberry jam filling would be delicious!
Hey 🙂 So I was wondering can I use sugar instead of honey, and how much would I use of it?
It’s 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Honey is sweeter than sugar so you need less of the honey. You could use 1 cup but they won’t be as sweet 🙂
Should i use runny honey or set honey?
Use runny honey. If it has set, just heat it on the stove or in a hot water bath.
I made these today!! Except I used strawberry filling instead. They were yummmy! I especially loved the idea of using honey instead of sugar. Thank you!!!
You are welcome Irene, I would love to eat one or two with tea right now :).
great idea. they sound yummy!
I know it. My cousin Katya is a genius! 😉
Holy moly! These look so good! 🙂 my husband will love these!
🙂 Thanks Lindsey! Enjoy!
Yes, they do. But not all. There are some long and boring recipe stories out there…;) In all honesty, I love your candid and simple stories.
Also coconut oil is a great substitution. Using olive oil can be risky because some olive oil has a sharp flavor.
My sister was just raving about coconut butter and coconut oil today. True about the olive oil. I made sure to write that extra virgin is not to be used in this recipe. My favorite all-purpose olive oil is the extra light from Costco. Have you tried that one?
Yeah, I use that one for everything :). But I love coconut oil for baking. I buy a jar of it at Trader Joes for $6 🙂
Oh, these are soooooo cute! And love the name! Gorgeous! And honey with olive oil = healthy and interesting. Love your stories too.:)
Thanks Olena. You’re so sweet 🙂 Stories make recipes more meaningful, don’t you think?
These are such gorgeous little specimens! Too cute to eat….except that honey and olive oil sounds like such a delicious combo.
Thank you 🙂 it was really a great combo; not as guilty as sugar and butter! 😉
I tried these and they worked sooo well!!!
Aren’t they fun?