Cupcake Wars Inspired Triple Cherry Cupcake

It became apparent that my daughter and I were watching too much Cupcake Wars and similar shows when I asked her what kind of cupcakes she would like to take to school for her birthday treat.  Her answer:  Cherry-filled with pink cherry whipped frosting and a fondant cherry and cherry leaves on top.  Not as easy as I was hoping for...but hey I'm always up for a good challenge. 

So I started with a basic vanilla cake mix and made the batter following the directions.  I filled designer black and white cupcake liners about 1/3 with the batter.  Then I used canned cherry pie filling by carefully spooning out just 2-3 cherries with as little of the gel as I could and placing them in the center of the batter.  Topped with more batter - just enough to cover the cherries and seal the edges.  I baked these in the oven according to the cake directions - I had thought they would take longer with the extra moisture from the filling but because the filling doesn't have to cook the time ended up being the same as normal cupcakes.  While these cooled I used premade whipped buttercream frosting and whipped in red food coloring and cherry extract until I reached a satisfactory color and flavor.  To finish, my daughter drained maraschino cherries on a paper towel overnight.  (To her credit she took sympathy on me and compromised about the fondant cherries.)  On our way out the door in the morning all the cupcakes were topped with a maraschino cherry and a few "pearl" sprinkles.  Very tasty and impressive to look at and they really were easy to put together.  These would be great for an adult party or for Valentine's Day.