Method

​1 Preheat the oven to 170°C/fan 150°C/gas mark 3. Place your muffin cases in your tin ready.

2 Sponge: cream the butter and sugar (by electric whisk) until light, fluffy and pale in colour. Add the vanilla extract into the mix. Beat in the eggs one at a time (then it won’t curdle the mix). Add the flour, cocoa powder and the milk and give a final mix with the electric whisk.

3 Spoon into the muffin cases and bake for 25 minutes. Leave the cakes to cool on a wire rack.

4 Filling: angle a small sharp knife and cut to within about 1 cm of the edge of each cake to remove a cone shape, leaving a hole in the centre. Using the cherry pie filling scoop 1 heaped teaspoon into the hole left.

5 Topping: tip the double cream into a small bowl and whisk until firm.

6 Place a heaped teaspoon of the double cream on top of the cherry pie filling. Grate some dark chocolate over the cream and finish by placing a cherry on the top of the cupcake. Enjoy!