Red Velvet Cupcakes

This recipe for red velvet cake is sooo good. It's light and moist. I made mine into cupcakes and got about 32 and baked about 18 minutes. I also substituted cake flour for the all purpose flour. If you use cake flour adjust accordingly...1 cup all purpose flour= 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. cake flour.

Enjoy!

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Cake:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
2 tablespoons red food coloring
12 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Frosting:
16 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
16 ounces cream cheese , cut into 8 pieces, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch salt

For the cake:

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and eggs in large measuring cup. Mix cocoa with food coloring in small bowl until a smooth paste forms.

With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as necessary. Add one-third of flour mixture and beat on medium-low speed until just incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add half of buttermilk mixture and beat on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl as necessary and repeat with half of remaining flour mixture, remaining buttermilk mixture, and finally remaining flour mixture. Scrape down bowl, add cocoa mixture, and beat on medium speed until completely incorporated, about 30 seconds. Using rubber spatula, give batter final stir.
Scrape into prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes then turn out onto rack to cool completely, at least 30 minutes.

For the frosting:

With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Beat in vanilla and salt. Refrigerate until ready to use.
When cakes are cooled, spread about 2 cups frosting on one cake layer. Top with second cake layer and spread top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 3 days.

It's a cupcake thing...

Aaah cupcakes...... Who doesn't like them? I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that don't. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. Matter of fact I like anything that isn't good for you and has lots of chocolate in it. So I searched and searched for a really good chocolate cupcake recipe all claiming to be "the best". This one had great reviews and well it was so darn easy to make! (With all the whisking it works on that turkey flap on the back of your arms as well) This is the first I tried of the many recipes I have and I must say I can't imagine any of the others being any better. It's moist, chocolatey has a nice crumb and kind of tastes like a brownie. The frosting is tasty too (and Toto too?) and very easy to make. It's great for piping.

Oh, by the way...If your on a diet???...You might want to skip this one for a cheat day.

So without further adieu I present to you......

Chocolatey Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 24
(recipe can easily be halved)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped
1 cup Dutch-processed cocoa (I used regular unsweetened and it worked fine)
1-1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
No Cook Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (below)

1. Combine butter, bittersweet chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Microwave, whisking often until melted and smooth, 1 to 3 minutes. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.
2. Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Line your muffin pans with cupcake liners.
4. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
5. Whisk eggs and vanilla together in another large bowl. Slowly whisk in sugar until combined. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.
6. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate batter and whisk until combined; whisk in all of sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until completely incorporated. Hang in there! The batter will be thick.
5. Fill muffin pan cups about 2/3 full. (I use a 2 oz. scoop) . Do not fill more than that as these rise on up and you will have mushrooms! I actually filled mine a little less. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes.
6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from the pans and let cool completely on racks before frosting. Frost with buttercream then sprinkle with your favorite candies. Enjoy!

No Cook Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla (or add your favorite flavoring)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2-1/2 cups powdered sugar

Stir cream, vanilla and salt together in a small bowl. Beat butter with an electric mixer on medium high until smooth. About 1 minute. Lower speed to medium low and slowly add powdered sugar and beat until smooth, 2 to 5 minutes. Beat in cream mixture then increase speed again to medium high and beat until mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes or so.
Makes 3 cups