Yield: 2 thick 9-in layers, or 24 cupcakes
Yay! The first blog of my very own. I can tell you, that I am ecstatic. I have been dying to open a food blog for the past FOREVER and have never actually gotten around to it until now. *hooray!* To open up my blog about desserts, I am going to post a recipe I've adapted from These Peas are Hollow (link above). It is the recipe to the header of my website, the delicious Red Velvet Cupcake.
Before I begin, you should know that I've never actually eaten a Red Velvet Cupcake until I made them. I had no idea what they were supposed to taste like, no idea what they were supposed to look like, and I had no idea what all the fuss was about...until I had these. These cupcakes are moist, delicious, and have just enough chocolate in them to satisfy my chocolate cravings. Not only that, but paired with a Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting makes eating this delicious treat not AS sinful.
Cake:
2 1/2 cups cake flour (I didn't have any, so I put 2 Tbsp. of Cornstarch in the bottom of my 1 c. measuring cup and filled the rest with All-Purpose Flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. red food coloring, or 1 tsp. red food color paste
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temp.
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, room temp. (I didn't have this either. I put 1 Tbsp. white vinegar/lemon juice at the bottom of my measuring cup, filled the remaining with milk, and let it sit for 5 mins.)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. white vinegar
Butter and flour your cake pans or line cupcake trays with paper liners; set aside. Preheat your oven to 350 deg F.
In a large bowl sift the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a small bowl, mix the food coloring and cocoa powder until completely incorporated. Set aside.
In a stand mixer (or using a hand mixer) cream the butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat until thoroughly combined, being sure to scrape down the sides. Add the vanilla and the cocoa mixture and beat well to combine. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the mixture, beginning and ending with the flour (1/3 flour, 1/2 buttermilk, repeat) and beating until just combined. In a small bowl, mix the vinegar and baking soda, and immediately add to batter. Mix on high speed for just a few seconds until evenly dispersed, and pour right away into cake pans or lined cupcake pans. Bake 2 9-inch cakes for about 30 minutes, (less time if you are going with thinner layers, and about 20-25 minutes for the cupcakes) or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let cool in pans for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.
Frosting:
Personally, I am not a fan of overly sweetened and dense frosting. I would much prefer to have a light whipped cream to store bought cake icing. However, I am a HUGE fan of Cream Cheese and all the glorious goodies that spur from it or that it is included in.
Do you see my dilemma?
To solve this, I made a Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting which is pretty much the best of both worlds. It combines light and fluffy whipped cream with the amazing taste of cream cheese. Please note. however, that for some reason, this frosting and I have a love hate relationship. On my first attempt, it turned out beautifully, perfect in every way. Yet, when I tried to recreate this frosting a second time, it was far too runny to pipe onto anything. This goes back and forth quite a bit. Maybe I should start measuring my frosting ingredients huh?
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- In a small bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.
- In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth, then fold in whipped cream.