The Queen of Hearts’ Painted Rose Cupcakes

Today I made some red & white roses cupcakes, based on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, for a birthday's beautiful girl.

“A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily painting them red. Alice thought this a very curious thing…
‘Would you tell me, please,’ Alice said a little timidly, ‘why are you painting those roses?’
Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began in a low voice,
‘Why, the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a red rose-tree, and we put a white one in by mistake; and, if the Queen was to find out, we should all have our heads cut off, you know!’ ”
–Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

INGREDIENTS:

For the Cupcakes (I used this chocolate cake recipe, then customized it from there)

3/4 cup butter
3 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups milk
1 bag frozen dark sweet cherries (or sour cherries, if you got ’em!)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup cherry juice (from the bag of cherries)
1 tsp sugar
Makes 2 dozen cupcakes

For the Frosting (original recipe can be found here)

3/4 cup butter, softened
2 lb powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
extra milk to achieve best consistency, if necessary