Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

Whisk eggs with a wire whisk for about 1 minute. They will become frothy and lightened in color. Add oil and whisk until combined.

Add sugar and whisk for about 1 minute. You can use a mixer to do this, or simply a whisk. I usually go with just a whisk.

Add vanilla extract and half of the buttermilk. Whisk briefly until just combined.

Now, add half of the dry ingredients and whisk gently until combined.

Finally, add rest of the buttermilk. Whisk and then, add remaining flour. Make sure to just whisk the mixture until combined.

Don’t overmix it!

Pour batter evenly into a cupcake pan lined with cupcake liners, or buttered and floured.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, checking in between to rotate pans.

Remove from the oven once cupcakes are lightly golden brown and puffed.

Cook cherries, 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons of water in a small saucepan over medium low heat for about 15 minutes, always stirring. Make sure to use the back of your spoon to mash the cherries as they cook.

Remove from heat once cherries are falling apart and liquid looks thickened and darkened.

Place contents of the cherry mixture in a small blender and puree until smooth. You should obtain about 1/4 cup of cherry puree, in case you don’t want to cook your own cherries and use some cherry pre-made jam instead.

Whisk egg yolk and 1/4 cup sugar. Add cornstarch and whisk to combine.

Bring milk to a boil in a small saucepan (you can use the same pan you used to cook the cherries).

Slowly add one tablespoon of milk to sugar and yolk mixture., while whisking. Keep adding the milk little by little until it’s all combined. This is called tempering the egg.

Once all milk is combined with the egg, add cherry puree to the mixture. Whisk to combine.

Transfer mixture back to small saucepan.

With a wooden spoon or spatula, start stirring the mixture over medium heat. Bring it to a boil.

Let mixture cook for about 3 minutes, don’t stop stirring.

Once custard is thick, remove it to a small bowl. Add vanilla and butter in. Stir to combine. Cover with a plastic wrap, placing the wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream. Place in refrigerator until ready to use.

Storage: Pastry Cream will last for about 3-4 days in the fridge.

Sift confectioner’s sugar. Set aside

Melt white chocolate in the microwave at 30 second increments. Stir until completely melted. Set aside to cool. Before using chocolate, it should be almost completely cooled down, don’t use the chocolate when it’s still warm.

Cream the cream cheese and butter together for about 1 minute on medium speed with your mixer.

Add cooled white chocolate in. Beat to combine.

With the mixer off, add all of the powdered sugar in. Mix on low until all the sugar is incorporated. Once that happens, raise speed to medium high and cream everything together for about 30 seconds. Add vanilla and cream for about 30 more seconds, until everything is incorporated and frosting is smooth.

Storage: Frosting should be kept in the fridge for up to 1 week and in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Cut a hole on top of the cupcakes with the help of a spoon. Hole should be about 1/2”.

Add a little bit of cherry filling inside the cupcake.

Pipe frosting on top.