For a co-worker's birthday, I made her favorite red velvet cupcakes. I also was excited to finally use my new Ateco tip for the frosting. I think my favorite thinga bout red velvet cupcakes is the cream cheese frosting. This recipe also has a slightly higher amount of cocoa than other recipes, just to give the cupcakes more flavor. Generally, red velvet cupcakes are only supposed to have a slight chocolate flavor, but I like to be more pronounced. Pecan halves are also a nice way to top the cupcakes.
**the pictures don't do the cupcakes justice; you can't see just how red they are!Red Velvet Cupcakes
24 cupcakes
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 ounce red food coloring paste
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, mixing until well combined.
Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mix in 3 batches, alternating with half of the wet ingredients. You should start and end with the dry ingredients.
Add in the red food coloring, mixing until it is incorporated.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, filling each cup about 2/3 full.
Bake the cupcakes for about 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8oz package of cream cheese
1 stick of unsalted butter
1/8 tsp of salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3-4 cups confectioner's sugar
Cream together the cream cheese, butter, salt, and vanilla extract.
Beat in the confectioner's sugar, 1 cup at a time, until you reach the desired taste and consistency.
Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Top each cupcake with a pecan half (if desired).
The best breakfast on the go is a freshly baked blueberry muffin. These are made with sour cream, giving it a little extra moistness and tang. There is also a slight hint of lemon, which I think complements the blueberries. Sugar sprinkled on the top also gives an additional bit of sweetness to the muffins.
The recipe I used is a variation of a recipe that I found posted on allrecipes.com
Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins
makes 2 dozen muffins
2 eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 cup sour cream
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
12 oz package of frozen blueberries
**sparkling sugar for the top
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract, lemon extract, and sour cream.
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add the flour and the oil to the batter in alternating batches, starting and ending with the flour.
Stir in the frozen blueberries. Be sure to keep the blueberries in the freezer just until adding, because if the berries begin to melt they will leak juice all throughout the batter.
Scoop the batter into muffin tins. Sprinkle the tops generously with sparkling sugar.
Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
