Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

THEY ARE FINALLY HERE and just in time for Valentine's Day!! The cupcakes are freshly decorated and last time I looked there were only a few left. They won't last long at your place either.

I cannot take credit for the recipe but I have tried many a red velvet cupcake recipe and found the one featured on Joy of Baking to be the best yet. My advice though would be to add 2 tbsp of red food coloring vs just the 1 tbsp as stated in the recipe.

For the icing, I did not use the one shown in the Joy of Baking Red Velvet link. Instead I opted for a basic cream cheese icing I use to frost anything from carrot cake to banana bread.

I snapped a few photos along the way!

Red food coloring being added to the buttermilk

Makes a nice and fluffy batter.
TIP: Make sure you really blend all the ingredients together
well before filling cupcake liners otherwise you will run the risk of a marbled affect
where you will see red cake streaked with cocoa lines.

Fresh out of the oven!

Cooled and ready to be frosted

The final result !

Here is the link to the Joy of Baking Red Velvet Recipe. Icing recipe below.

ICING:

1/2 cup cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups icing sugar (ensure you sift this to avoid grainy frosting)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

With hand mixer, whip cream cheese until light and fluffy ( 2 min, medium speed)
Add butter and whip 1 min, medium speed
Add icing sugar and vanilla. Mix until well blended

Fill piping bag with whatever tip you choose and pipe away !

Chocolate Cupcakes

Decadent chocolate cupcakes LOADED with chocolate chips.... topped with a chocolate buttercream icing. Is there anything better in this world???!!!

I decided to make these on a recent snow day and there were barely any left by day's end!

Featured Guest:
My daughter, Charley !

Let's Get Started

Here is Charley getting ready to whip up a perfect cupcake batter.

As you can see, no fancy equipment needed. Just a hand - mixer will do !

All ready for the oven.

The Result !

RECIPE:

WHAT YOU NEED

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I use Fry's)
1 cup boiling hot water
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup fine white sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (we used milk chocolate chips and they were great!)

FROSTING:
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate (1 square of baking chocolate is 1 oz)
2/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sifted icing sugar (do NOT omit sifting!)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

MAKE IT

PREHEAT oven to 375 F
LINE 12 muffin cups with paper liners
MIX cocoa and hot water together in small bowl. Let stand or place in fridge for faster cooling
IN MEDIUM BOWL, combine flour, baking powder and salt
IN LARGE BOWL, beat butter and sugar with hand-mixer until light and fluffy (1-2 minutes medium speed)
ADD EGGS, mix and scrape down sides during mixing if required
BLEND in vanilla extract
ADD flour mixture and blend until combined
ADD cooled cocoa/water mixture until blended and batter is smooth.
STIR in chocolate chips
FILL muffins cups 3/4 with batter
BAKE 18-20 minutes . Use toothpick in center of muffin to check for doneness
COOL on wire rack (should be ready for frosting in 1/2 hr)

FROSTING:
MELT chocolate over double boiler and let cool
BEAT butter until smooth (1 -2 min) with hand-mixer
ADD icing sugar and mix til combined
ADD vanilla extract and melted chocolate
BEAT 2-3 minutes medium speed

You can either spread icing with cake spatula, regular knife or pipe it for pretty swirls as I did. I used a wilton IM star tip for these.

These make incredibly moist and rich cupcakes. You will be hooked after the first bite!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

This recipe goes out to Jane and her 5 furry little white friends (hey, they should have a treat now and then too!)

Carrot Cake... Need I say more? You either love it or you hate it. I can safely say I can count, on one hand, the number of people I have met in my lifetime that do not like carrot cake.

What makes a good carrot cake? the carrots, the spices? Nope, the ICING !! The more icing the better but what makes carrot cake icing so darn good? The answer is simple: CREAM CHEESE !

I have baked many a carrot cake in my day but Anna Olson's one is the winner. Moist and tender with a kick-ass icing. No need to even layer it. An 8inch square pan is all you need.

Rather than reposting here I will simply redirect you to the recipe link. Give this one a try, you will NOT be disappointed.

A word of advice, use crushed pineapple vs diced. Trust me on this one.

Anna Olson's Carrot Cake