Here are some pictures of Cupcakes I've made, decorated and served in 2009!
Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Butter Cream frosting and fondant flowers.
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and fondant Lego pieces.
Elmo and Cookie Monster "Fixed Up" Red Velvet Cupcakes with
Gingerbread teacakes with cinnamon frosting, decorated by Audrey
"Fixed Up" Pilsbury Funfetti Cupcakes and frosting, decorated by Audrey
Sometimes I don't have time to be Super Girl and make cupcakes from scratch, and let's face it, not much can beat a perfect boxed cake mix. It comes out perfect every time! So something I like to do, to fix it up and make it slightly more homemade, is just replacing a few ingredients for a better taste.
To turn a basic box of cake mix into "Fixed Up!" cake, simply follow the directions on the back, omitting the water for milk, or buttermilk. If you don't have buttermilk, or can't find it, you can add 2 tsp of lemon juice to regular milk and let it sour for an hour. Using 4 eggs instead of the number recommended and fresh vanilla extract are other homemade substitutions.
For Red Velvet, simply use a box of White Cake Mix, omitting buttermilk for water, the same amount of oil, 4 egg whites, 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tsp vanilla extract, red food coloring until bright, and 1tbsp baking soda mixed with 1 tbsp white vinegar in a separate bowl, (it will foam) and then add to the cake mix. Bake as directed.
I love to use the canned frosting and tend to stock up when they go on sale at the store. Aren't 10 for $10 deals great?! I usually tend to tint my frosting and add at least 1/2 cup of powdered sugar to the frosting to thicken it. If I plan on using the frosting in a piping bag I use an additional 1/2 cup before I pipe it onto cupcakes. It helps the frosting keep it shape and makes the tub go a bit further. For chocolate frosting, mix equal parts powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
Last week I posted about Red Velvet Cupcakes. I frosted mine with a very easy to make Cream Cheese Frosting. I once again consulted my Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, below is the recipe.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese (that's about 2 bricks of it) , softened and cut into pieces
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5 cups (OMG I KNOW) powdered sugar
I thought for sure this would be wayyy too much and almost halved it, but it frosted the entire recipe of red velvet and I had just enough left to lick off my fingers.
In a large bowl with a mixer, (I, again, used my Kitchen-Aid) beat the cream cheese and butter until nice and smooth. Then add the vanilla, and beat well.
Next, very slowly and gradually, cuz the stuff goes everywhere, add the powdered sugar, a half a cup at a time.
Scrape the sides down after about 2 1/2 cups worth of sugar has been added. Once all added, cover and chill for about 2-3 hours, but not much longer so it can thicken before frosting.
To frost you can go about it a few ways. If you are pressed for time or don't use piping tips, you can just slather it on there with a butter knife or frosting spatula. That isn't who I am, but if it's you by all means, go hog wild! If you wish to use a pastry bag with a piping tip, use the largest one you've got. If you don't know how to use a pastry bag, watch this.
Then once again, by all means, go hog wild! I pipe my frosting on in big circular swirls. Lots of frosting on red velvet is the only way to go.
Then I got all fancy and sprinkled the living daylight out of them.
VOILA!
This post is soooo long overdue, sorry!!
For Kristi's Birthday I made her a batch of Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. All from scratch!
I planned on just using a box cuz I had almost NO time to do this, but to my dismay, Red Velvet Cake Mix is very hard to find. So I sucked it up and just decided to make them the good old fashioned way.
I took a cue from my most favoritest cookbook, More from Magnolia Bakery, and dove in.
Red Velvet Cupcakes:
3 1/3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
6 tablespoons red food coloring (I used one whole jar of frosting dye gel from Wilton's)
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 /12 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
Preheat your oven to 350, and get your cake pans greased and floured then lined with waxed paper. I decided on cupcakes, so I just used liners, but three 9-inch cake rounds could be also used if you wanted to do a layer cake.
In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. It's very important to use cake flour because it creates a nice delicate tender crumb, and substituting all purpose flour can get tricky. If you can't find cake flour and only have all purpose, use this article as a guideline.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer, (I used my Kitchen-Aid) cream the butter and sugar until super light and fluffy. It should take around 5 minutes and should look like below.
Add the eggs one at a time, cracking into a separate bowl to make sure you get no egg shells, and then beating well after each addition.
In another small bowl we're going to make our red mixture! Using a small whisk or fork mix well the cocoa, vanilla and red food coloring until smooth. It's a pretty thick mixture so make sure you clean out the whisk a few times as you mix to ensure it's even.
It should look pretty red as above. When it's mixed, go ahead and add it into the batter.
The color should be nice and bright red when it's done mixing.
In another small bowl (omg I know right? I just rinsed and used the same dang bowl) mix the buttermilk and salt. It sounds odd, but just do it ok? You are going to alternate adding this mixture with the flour into the batter in as equal of 3 parts as you can get.
This is when it starts looking like the kind of cake batter you want to lick off the spatula. With each addition just mix til incorporated, but make sure you don't over beat. This is where Michelle's brother Jim would make a lewd remark.
In that same small bowl, once again rinsed clean, mix the cider and vinegar to make the kind of thing found inside a 7th grade Science fair volcano. It's going to foam up. It's ok, just go ahead and add that into the batter as well.
Turn off the mixer, scrape the sides down into the bowl and mix well again until the batter is nice and smooth. Divide the batter equally among your chosen pans.
For a layer cake bake them for 30-40 minutes, cupcakes about 15-20. They should be done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with small crumbs. Let them cool and then frost with the icing of your choice.
OMG! Melissa brought me this while I was at work!
LOOK HOW TINY! Omg! One of the things I miss most about living in the South is Red Velvet! But I'm glad it's gaining popularity out here! These lil treats are from Jamaicas Cake's in West LA! Go there cuz Jamaica is SO SWEET and SO NICE and they have the best treats!
I have about a million things to blog, and I'm home relaxing after a particularly long day at the dentist, getting a cleaning and a chipped veneer fixed, so I figured, no time like the present.
It was a much smaller portion of any hummus I've ever gotten, but it was so unbelievably insane and tasty, it didn't even matter. It came topped with a sweet pomegranate molasses and toasted pine nuts. The hummus itself was smooth and creamy, with a surprising spiciness, yet the interesting combination of the molasses calmed it a bit and made it very enjoyable. The "pita chips" it came with were flash fried, so they were crispy on the outside with enough firmness for dipping, yet soft in the middle. An instant favorite and worth the trip alone.
On the side were these house made pickles that we're too sour, or briny, but just enough to give it some kick. They reminded me a lot of the juniper marinated onions at Absinthe.
It's got White and Dark Chocolate Ganache in between layers of the freaking thickest cake I think I've ever had. It was decadent and sinful and we didn't finish it at all, but oh man was it good.
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