Cupcakes

We celebrated my grandmother's 100th birthday with an open house.

 Everyone brought different treats to share.  Lucky for us there were lots of tasty things to try!  My contribution was Black Forest Cupcakes.  For those of you not familiar with Black Forest Cake, it's well know in the German community (as well as others).  I figured cupcakes would be easier to serve than having to cut a cake, so I modified.  I took the easy route and used a devils food cake mix and prepared the cupcakes as instructed on the box.  After the cupcakes had cooled, I used my handy Pampered Chef Core & More to lift a small portion of the middle of the cupcake.  Using canned cherry pie filling, I would re-lift the middle portion of the cupcake and drop in 1 cherry.  Then I replaced the cake portion.  I used cool whip to frost the cupcakes, sprinkled them with shredded chocolate and an additional cherry.  I had great plans to take pictures along the way, but was more focused on getting done.  We got so busy that we actually forgot to take a picture of the finished product.  The picture below was "accidentally" taken, but it gives you an idea.  From what I heard, they were tasty - sadly, I didn't even try one.  Cupcakes are definitely a hot commodity lately, so have you boarded the cupcake band wagon??  or do you prefer the standard cake?