High Altitude Cherry Cheesecake Cupcakes
The most delicious cherry cheesecake cupcakes, made with vanilla cupcakes with a graham cracker crust, cherry pie filling, and cream cheese whipped cream frosting.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1 ½ cups finely crushed graham cracker crumbs
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
Cupcakes
- 1 recipe High Altitude Vanilla Cupcakes (recipe for the cake batter only, not the buttercream)
Filling
- 1 can cherry pie filling
Frosting
- 4 oz block cream cheese, cold
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups cold heavy whipping cream
- 24 fresh cherries, for decorating
Instructions
Getting Ready
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Line a standard sized muffin pan with 24 paper liners, and lightly spray the papers with non-stick baking spray.
Graham Cracker Crust
- In a bowl, combine the crushed graham crackers with the sugar and salt. Add the melted butter, and stir until moist and crumbly.
- Set aside 2 tbsp of the crumbs for decorating, and divide the rest evenly between the paper liners. Use a small glass (like a shot glass) to press the crumbs into an even layer in the bottom of the paper liners.
- Bake the crust for 5 minutes, then set the pans aside while you make the cupcake batter.
Vanilla Cupcakes
- Make the vanilla cupcake batter as instructed.
- Add the vanilla batter right on top of the graham cracker crust, filling the cups no more than 2/3 – 3/4 full.
- Bake the cupcakes for about 18 minutes, until the tops spring back when gently touched.
- Gently transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack, and cool completely before frosting.
Filling
- Use a cupcake corer to remove the centers of the cooled cupcakes.
- Fill the centers of the cupcakes with the cherry pie filling.
Frosting
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cold cream cheese with the powdered sugar on medium speed, for 1-2 minutes, until smooth.
- Scrape up the bowl, and add the vanilla and a small amount of the cream, beating again until smooth. Add the rest of the cream, and beat on medium high speed for several minutes. until thick and fluffy enough to hold its shape.
- Fit a disposable 16-inch piping bag with tip 1M, and fill half full with the whipped cream. Pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes, refilling the piping bag as needed.
- Sprinkle the frosting with the reserved 2 tbsp graham cracker crumbs, and decorate with fresh cherries. Refrigerate the cupcakes until ready to serve.
Notes
Store leftover cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
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