Monday, February 14, 2011

Red Velvet Cupcakes w/Creamy Frosting

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My Valentine's Day dessert this year, Red Velvet Cupcakes. These were a first for me, so I turned to my idol, Martha Stewart. I found this recipe for red velvet cupcakes and used it as the main base for mine. I did differ from her recipe but only very slightly. The frosting is a pretty simple cream cheese frosting that was paired with the cupcake recipe so I opted to try it. As opposed to the cakes, I followed the frosting recipe to a "T" and was very happy with the results and consistency. They only take about 20 minutes to bake, and 15 minutes to whip up. The frosting is a quick 10 minutes, this dessert was easy and so yummy! To check out the recipe click here. Jim loved them, Happy Valentine's Day everyone, I hope you had an amazing day, I know I did!

Yields 22 cupcakes, (24 if you stretch it)
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Add 1 1/2 cups of sugar to a mixing bowl.

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Combine it with 1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil.

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Beat with an electric mixer on high to combine.

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Add in two large eggs and beat to combine.

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The mixture will look all yellow-y like this.

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I added in one teaspoon of vanilla extract.

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And 1/2 a teaspoon of red food coloring. 

I will stop here and explain myself, if you read Martha's recipe you will already notice my changes, she uses food coloring gel I used liquid, she wants you to stop and add each egg one by one and beat them in before adding the next, I added both at once, etcetera etcetera, you may notice a few more of these minor changes. I still got great results, I just like to streamline things a bit, no hard feelings Martha.

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Beat the ingredients together on medium/high speed until combined.

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Add in one teaspoon of salt.

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Two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder, good ole' Hershey's is what I used.

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You will need one cup of buttermilk and 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour.

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Add half of the flour.

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And half of the buttermilk.

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And beat on high until combined. Your batter will begin to look brownish instead of reddish.

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Add in the other half of the flour.

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The rest of the buttermilk, and I added in about 4-6 more drops of red food coloring to balance out the cocoa powder brown. Beat to combine batter well, using a rubber spatula make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl.

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The result should be this beautifully blush batter!

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In a small dish add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda to 2 teaspoons of white vinegar.

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Add it to the batter and combine again to incorporate.

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Hello beautiful!
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cup cake tin with paper cups.

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Ladle the batter into the cups filling about 3/4 of the way full.

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Bake for about 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

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The cupcakes look so beautiful and plump with perfect crowns.

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Let the cupcakes cool completely about 45 minutes to an hour.

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Once the cupcakes have cooled you can begin to make the frosting. First add 2 sticks of unsalted butter to a mixing bowl.

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Add in 12 ounces of cream cheese.

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Beat with a mixer on medium/high until fluffy and smooth.

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Add in 2 cups of confectioner's sugar and beat to combine.

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Add in another 2 cups of confectioner's sugar and combine well.

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Finally, add in 3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

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Beat on high about 4-5 minutes until completely smooth and whipped.

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Using a rubber spatula, spoon the frosting into a pastry bag filling it about 3/4 of the way.

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Pick a pastry bag tip of choice for your decorating, I used a wide star tip, I believe its tip #6.

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Start by making an outer ring and working your way to the middle, forming a swirl.

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It takes about 2.3 circles to fill.

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Ta-Dah!

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Beautiful!
Please note, refrigerate the cupcakes (or at least the leftovers) since the frosting is cream based. Enjoy!

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