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Cupcakes = Happiness!

Posted by Kelly Nicole
August 1, 2008

Who can resist cupcakes? Especially luscious red velvet cupcakes with tangy cream cheese frosting. Mmmmm. Using the cake recipe that I posted in my last entry, I made a dozen of these for a get together last Saturday. Delightful!

It’s no coincidence that my KitchenAid is also red. :-)

I piped the icing onto each cupcake using a plastic tip from Wiltons.

Oops, the little guy on the left became a casualty of my hand. He still tasted yummy!

Happy Friday, loves! I wish you a cupcake filled weekend!

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A Red Velvet Weekend

Posted by Kelly Nicole
July 31, 2008

Darling readers, I have received the BEST EVER recipe for red velvet cake. My co-worker, who used to be a pastry chef at the Ritz Carlton, is starting her own cupcake business. I told her that I wanted to make a red velvet birthday cake for a girlfriend and she gave me her fool proof recipe. Since I know there are only a whopping two people who read this blog, I can share her secret with ya’ll. :-)

But first, the scrumptious pictures:

Here’s red velvet, pre frosting. Two yummy layers separated by a whipped butter cream. MMMM.

And my first ever attempt at icing a cake. I know it looks funny, but it still makes me want to go NOM NOM NOM.

Yes, the handwriting could use a little work. I melted a few dark chocolate squares and squeezed the letters out through the tip of a pastry bag.

As a finishing touch, I added chocolate sprinkles around the side. Or, a more accurate depiction would be that I chucked chocolate sprinkles at the cake by the handful because I didn’t have a tilting cake turntable to help me out.

It’s not the prettiest red velvet cake, but I promise it was delicious. It was the perfect texture: moist, fluffy, and scrumdiddlyumptious. In fact, it was so good that I ate it three days in a row. *burp* Most importantly, Janet liked it, so I was very happy. :-)

Now, for the yummy recipe! (It’s in grams because my co-worker is a pastry chef and she measures everything with a scale.)

RED VELVET CAKE

Ingredients:

328g All Purpose Flour
288g Sugar
4g Baking Soda
6g Salt
10g Cocoa Powder
286g Veg. Oil
252g Buttermilk
2ea Eggs
2 Tbsp Red Food Coloring
6g White Vinegar
6g Vanilla Extract

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 (measure your oven with an oven thermometer to ensure accurate temp).
  2. Combine all dry and sifted.
  3. Combine all wet (I combined the sugar with the wet ingredients).
  4. Add dry into wet and mix lightly.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes. Touch the top of the cake. If it springs back with slight resistance, it is done. Otherwise, bake for 5 minutes and check again. Or, insert a toothpick diagonally into the center of the cake. It should come out mostly clean with a few crumbs attached.
  6. Cool the cake to room temp before decorating.

BUTTER CREAM ICING
(I found this recipe on Chowhound and it worked perfectly with the cake)

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 Cup Whole Milk
1 Cup Butter (softened to room temp)
1 Cup Superfine Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

  1. Mix cornstarch with milk. Cook on medium heat until thick, whisking the entire time. Set aside to cool.
  2. Cream butter until fluffy.
  3. Add vanilla and cooked cornstarch mixture slowly. Beat until it feels like whipped cream. The sugar should be dissolved and the frosting should not be grainy.
  4. Ice your cake!

Happy eating, folks! :-)