Valentine’s Day took place this past weekend, and I wanted to make something Valentine-ish. Chocolate and strawberry seem to be a good choice, but chocolate and raspberry are actually my preference, hence these treats. They’re basic but delicious chocolate cupcakes with easy raspberry buttercream, requiring no fresh raspberries but rather raspberry jam.

Yes, you can make buttercream with fruit jam, no fresh or frozen fruit required! I like this method because I usually have jam in the fridge, whereas I may or may not have fresh raspberries. My buttercream includes about a half-cup of jam, but you can use more or less if you prefer. I also piped the buttercream to look like roses in honor of this (mostly commercial, but still fun) holiday.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup water

For the raspberry buttercream

• 12 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 3 1/2 cups cups powdered sugar
• About 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with paper liners; this recipe makes about 14 – 16 cupcakes, depending on how full you fill your cupcake wells.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well-blended, then make three wells for the wet ingredients.

Place vinegar, vanilla, and vegetable oil into the wells; add water and mix until the batter is smooth. The mixture will bubble up slightly when you add the water, so just keep mixing until you get a smooth consistency in the batter, which will be fairly thin.

Using a 1/4 cup measure, fill cupcake wells about half full. Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for a few minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on wire racks. Cool completely before frosting.

To make raspberry buttercream, beat butter on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter; this takes a few minutes. Add raspberry jam and beat on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes, scraping your bowl a few times during the process. If you find that your buttercream is too stiff, you can add about 1 tablespoon of heavy cream to thin it out, but the jam usually makes this type of buttercream looser because of its moisture content.

Fit a piping bag with a large star tip (I use the Wilton M1) and pipe swirls of frosting onto cupcakes. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days; these cupcakes are quite moist and don’t have a long shelf life.