Carrot Cupcakes

Before this, I had never made carrot cake. I was never a huge fan of carrot cake--mostly I think I avoided it because recipes usually include nuts, but I was also not totally convinced vegetables would be good in cake. But when asked to make some cupcakes that would be appropriate for morning, I thought these might be a good bet. I thought these were delicious--granted, I don't have much to compare them to, but others seemed to like them as well!

Carrot Cupcakes
-1 lb. peeled finely grated carrots
-3 eggs, room temp.
-1/3 c. buttermilk, room temp.
-2 c. sugar
-1.5 c. vegetable/canola oil
-1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
-1/2 c. raisins
-3 c. all purpose flour
-1 tsp. baking soda
-2 tsp. baking powder
-1 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. cinnamon
-1 tsp. ground ginger
-1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1. Whisk together carrots, eggs, buttermilk, sugar, oil, vanilla, and raisins.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.
3. Stir the flour mixture into the carrot mixture until combined. Divide batter into 24 lined cups and bake at 325* for 23-28 minutes, rotating tins halfway through.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
-1/2 c. softened butter
-8 oz. softened cream cheese
-1 c. packed light brown sugar

1. Beat together butter, cream cheese, and sugar until smooth.

Chocolate Spice Cupcakes

In the fall and winter, I have a tendency to want to add spice to everything. So instead of a regular chocolate cake recipe, I opted for this chocolate spice cake recipe. I coupled it with a chocolate cinnamon buttercream frosting, and I was totally in love.

This recipe makes a weird batter, but the texture of this cake is unbelievable. The molasses flavor really jumped out--I ended up using organic molasses for these, and it seems to have a stronger flavor than the kind I normally buy; I'd be interested to try this again with the "normal" kind too, just for the sake of comparing. Either way, I don't think these will disappoint.

Chocolate Spice Cupcakes
-5 T. softened butter
-1/4 c. Dutch process cocoa powder
-1 t. baking soda
-2/3 c. boiling water
-1 1/4 c. flour
-1/4 t. salt
-1 t. ginger
-1 t. cinnamon
-1/4 t. nutmeg
-1/2 c. packed dark brown sugar
-1 egg, room temperature
-2/3 c. molasses

1. Add baking soda to the boiling water. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and spices.
2. Beat together butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add in the egg. Add molasses and hot water.
3. Gradually add in the flour mixture until well combined.
4. Divide batter among 12 lined baking cups. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes, rotating tin halfway through.

Chocolate-Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
-1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
-1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
-3/4 c. cinnamon
-1/8 c. milk
-1/4 c. butter, softened

1. Combine sugar, cocoa powder, and cinnamon. Add in butter and milk. (Adjust the consistency with more sugar or more milk, as needed.)

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes

Fall came, and my cabinet was ready with a healthy supply of pumpkin. I don't generally need much of an excuse to make cupcakes--in this case, having pumpkin handy was reason enough. And cream cheese frosting...

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes
-2 c. cake flour
-1/2 t. baking soda
-2 t. baking powder
-1/2 t. salt
-1 t. cinnamon
-1 1/2 t. ginger
-1/2 t. nutmeg
-1/4 t. cloves
-1/2 c. butter, softened
-1 1/4 c. light brown sugar, packed
-2 eggs, room temperature
-1/2 c. buttermilk, room temperature
-3/4 c. pumpkin puree

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
2. Beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated.
3. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with two additions of buttermilk. Once combined, beat in pumpkin puree.
4. Divide into 16 lined baking cups, and bake, rotating tins halfway through, for 15-18 minutes at 350*.
5. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cardamom Bread

Back again, with two months of posts! I'm starting with this, because it was one of my favorites. Last Christmas our neighbors brought us a large loaf of cardamom bread, sprinkled with red and green sugar--it was beautiful, and we enjoyed it for days. We had never tried cardamom bread before that, but all of us loved it. I did a little researching and found out that it was fairly common to put cardamom in sweet breads in Scandinavian countries. When I found a recipe for "Swedish Coffee Bread" (from King Arthur Flour, as usual) that called for cardamom, I hoped it would produce something like the loaf we had last winter.

The dough didn't rise as much as most yeast doughs--I was a little worried that I had ruined it somehow--but in the end, it made a perfect loaf. I managed to devour it in about two days (which is why I don't usually let myself bake bread alone...)--plain slices, toast with butter, toast with apple butter... I plan on making it again over the holidays, hopefully when I'll have help eating it?


Cardamom Bread
-1/2 c. lukewarm milk
-1 package active dry yeast
-2 1/2 c. flour
-1 egg
-1/4 c. sugar
-3 T. softened butter
-3/4 t. slat
-1 t. crushed or ground cardamom
-melted butter
-cinnamon & sugar

1. Combine the milk, yeast, and 1/2 c. flour in a large bowl, and let stand for about 15 minutes, until bubbling and expanded.
2. Beat in egg, sugar, butter, salt, and cardamom.
3. Gradually add the remaining flour until the dough forms and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 3-4 minutes. Allow it to rest while greasing a large bowl, and then knead for another 3-4 minutes. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, return it to the greased bowl and turn it over several times to coat it with oil. Cover and let rise from 1.5 to 2 hours.
5. Punch down the dough, turn it out again onto a floured surface, and knead briefly.
6. Divide the dough into three equal parts, and shape each into a long rope. Braid the ropes together.
7. Place the braid into a greased loaf pan (4.5"x8.5"), brush the top with melted butter, and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Cover the pan and let it rise again for 1 hour.
8. Bake the loaf at 350* for 30 minutes. Turn the loaf out and cool completely on a rack.

Blueberry White Chocolate Ginger Cookies

Last time I was home, mom gave me this recipe. I've gotten into a routine of making the same kinds of cookies over and over again lately. This looked new and interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try! These have a unique texture--they're a little more dense than most cookies, but the flavors work well together.

Blueberry White Chocolate Ginger Cookies
-1 1/4 c. flour
-1/2 t. salt
-1/2 t. baking soda
-1 t. ginger
-1 egg
-3/4 c. packed dark brown sugar
-1/3 c. canola oil
-1 t. vanilla
-1/2 c. oats
-1/2 c. dried blueberries
-1/2 c. white "chocolate" chips

1. Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and ginger in a small bowl.
2. Beat together sugar, egg, oil, and vanilla until smooth. Add flour mixture.
3. Stir in oats, blueberries, and chips.
4. Drop heaping tablespoons onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 375*.

Banana Carrot Bread

I've been on a mission to use up miscellaneous ingredients lately. When I found this recipe, I was able to check two items off the list. I wasn't sure about the carrot banana combination, but it was delicious! I'll absolutely make this every time I have a couple spare carrots.

Banana Carrot Bread
-2 c. flour
-1/2 t. salt
-2 t. baking powder
-1/4 t. baking soda
-1/2 t. cinnamon
-1/4 t. cloves
-4 T. softened butter
-3/4 c. granulated sugar
-2 eggs
-2 ripe bananas, mashed
-1 t. vanilla
-2 medium carrots, grated

1. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
2. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated. Beat in mashed bananas and vanilla.
3. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Stir in the grated carrot.
4. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour at 350*. Let cool in the pan for about 15 minutes before turning the loaf out onto a cooling rack.

Mocha Cake with Espresso Buttercream Frosting

When Blake was visiting I had a double-birthday occasion to make cake--after a little collaboration we decided on this combination. I split the full recipe into a dozen cupcakes and a 9 inch single-layer cake.

For the cake I used the same recipe I posted here, and the buttercream recipe is the same as well, except for the addition of a heaping tablespoon of espresso powder with the vanilla.


(I managed to convince some other grad students to help me finish these...)

What made this cake extra special? I got to make it with my truly amazing (not to mention gorgeous!) birthday present:


I am either horribly spoiled, or incredibly lucky, or both. I'm also very thankful, and really impressed with how fantastic the cake came out because of this!

Mint Ice Cream

And here it is! I made the ice cream and then kept it in the freezer for longer than I thought my will-power would make it. I promised I'd have it around for Blake when he visited. I credit him with getting me to try mint ice cream in the first place. I never much cared for mint in food because it reminded me too much of toothpaste. But real mint... that's something I discovered recently, and it's another story altogether.

I got this recipe here, and followed it to the letter, with the exception of using the melted chocolate. I threw in some Bunny Grahams instead (partly as an inside joke, partly because they are highly delicious and I wanted an excuse to buy a box). Thus, VerMint Chocolate Bunny was created! This might be my new favorite ice cream ever. The effort is absolutely worth it, because the flavor and texture are divine. Now I'm working on growing a giant mint plant so I can make it all the time...

Mint!

Last time I went to Vermont, Luann gave me this beautiful bunch of mint from her garden. Confession: I bought myself a little ice cream maker earlier this summer. So, when I saw the mint, I knew ice cream was inevitable. The finished product will be documented later--I promised to save it for a special upcoming occasion...


Still, I'll leave you with a couple photos of the process. Boiling mint leaves with cream and sugar...


Eggs waiting to turn into custard...


So why no ice cream posts yet? Mostly because I've eaten all of it too fast. There's some coffee frozen yogurt in the freezer now, though, and maybe I'll manage to photograph a couple scoops before it's all gone...

Early Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Glaze

Last weekend I had an absolute craving for the Earl Grey cupcakes that I had posted previously. I changed the recipe slightly from before--I was looking for a denser cake, so I adjusted the butter and baking powder proportions a bit, but otherwise it was mostly the same. In the past I had frosted these with both chocolate and vanilla frostings, but both of those overpowered the tea flavor a bit too much. This time I thought a glaze would be ideal--particularly a citrus-flavored glaze to complement the bergamot in the tea. I think it worked! I had always shied away from glazes prior to this because of the uncontrollable dripping, but enough paper towels can make me comfortable with almost any mess, I suppose...

Lemon Glaze
-the juice of 1 lemon
-1-2 c. confectioners' sugar

1. Whisk the lemon juice with quarter cup additions of confectioners' sugar until it is the thickness desired. (Very difficult to be exact with this--just wing it until it looks and tastes right.)
2. Dip the cakes into the glaze, let most of the excess fall off, and let them rest upright on racks over paper towels until the glaze has set.

Summer Squash Cupcakes

July was a very warm month--so much so that I had (sadly!) minimal desire to bake. I made a couple batches of cookies, sure, but nothing new, and nothing that was very labor-intensive. There have been little breaks in the heat since August started--enough for me to want to try making these cupcakes, at least. I probably won't get back into a full-baking swing until next month, but hopefully I'll have a couple things to share this week.

We have been getting a LOT of zucchini and squash from the farm lately--I think all of us are running out of creative ways to cook them. I had 3 small summer squash, and decided cupcakes might be fun. I suspected it would be feasible to substitute grated squash for grated zucchini, and it definitely is. Couldn't tell the difference! Hence, squash cakes...

Summer Squash Cakes
-3 c. flour
-1 t. baking soda
-1/2 t. baking powder
-1 t. salt
-2 t. cinnamon
-1/2 t. nutmeg
-1/2 t. cloves
-1/2 c. vegetable oil
-1/2 c. olive oil
-2 eggs
-2 t. vanilla
-2 c. packed light brown sugar
-3 c. grated summer squash, some of the excess water removed

1. In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat together the oils, eggs, and vanilla. Add the sugar and beat until smooth, then stir in the squash.
2. Gradually add the flour mixture, taking care not to over-beat.
3. Pour the batter into lined baking cups. Bake 20 minutes at 350* F, rotating the tins halfway through.
4. Let cool. Top with cream cheese frosting.

Strawberry Shortcake

Last week after getting a lot of gorgeous strawberries in the CSA share, I decided to try my hand at strawberry shortcake. As it happened, I had about four different recipes for shortcakes in four different cookbooks. Most were cornmeal-based, so I decided to go in that direction. I think they came out very well--an excellent dessert to showcase the fresh fruit!

Strawberry Shortcakes
-1 1/2 c. flour
-1/2 c. cornmeal
-3 T. sugar
-4 t. baking powder
-4 T. unsalted butter (cold)
-1 c. heavy cream

1. In a food processor, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, and baking powder. Pulse.
2. Add cubes of cold butter and pulse again until it resembles a course meal. Transfer to a mixing bowl, and add the cream. Combine with a fork until the dough comes together.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead gently. Form it into a rectangle 1 - 1 1/4 inches thick.
4. Either cut the dough into squares with a knife, or use a 2 or 3 inch biscuit cutter to make rounds. The final count will vary depending on size. Work quickly, as the butter will begin to soften with repeated handling.
5. Bake on a greased or lined baking sheet for 12-15 minutes at 425* until golden.

Whipped Cream
-1 c. heavy cream
-1 T. powdered sugar
-1 t. vanilla

1. With the whisk attachment of a mixer, whip the cream until soft peaks form.
2. Add in sugar and vanilla and continue to whisk until combined.

Macerated Strawberries
-2 c. fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
-1 1/2 T. raw sugar
-1 T. marsala

1. In a large bowl combine berries, sugar, and wine. Stir, and let stand for at least an hour before serving.
2. Assemble as desired! (I split some of the cakes--as shown--and others just served as a base for the berry mixture; delicious either way!)

Thawing Cupcakes

I made a very large batch of red velvet cupcakes a few months ago--some to share, and others to hoard. Rather than eating all of mine at once (believe me, I was tempted), I decided to try freezing them to make the joy last a little longer. I wrapped them in plastic wrap, and then stored them in an airtight container in the freezer. When I was ready for them again (during finals week...), I took them out, unwrapped them, and left them to thaw on the counter. Within less than an hour, they were perfect and fresh, and exactly what I needed to keep my spirits up during the studying!

Not Baking

I considered in an earlier post the possibility of adding in documentation of my attempts at cooking actual food (I do try to eat things that aren't cake sometimes). My need to compartmentalize has led me to start a spin-off blog for non-baking recipes.

If you're interested, you can check the new site out here--if you're only into the baked goods, these posts will continue as usual!

An Order!

This week I put together a cupcake order for a friend throwing a bridal shower. It ended up being four dozen cupcakes--Devil's food and yellow cakes with buttercream or dark chocolate frosting. I was given the wedding invitation as inspiration--it was covered in blue flowers, so I tinted some fondant and tried to make some to match.

Apart from making a lot of consecutive little messes in my kitchen (that by the end had merged into one big one), it was fun to try something on a larger scale! And now I'll be ready for next time! A few photos of the finished products:

LOST!

I realize that I have officially become the worst poster ever. I apologize for this, and fully intend to make up for it soon, assuming I survive the next 7 days. The spring semester has come to an end, and after a pretty tiring few weeks of finals, my classmates and I are now preparing for our first year comprehensive exams next week. Kind of a big deal. Fingers crossed...

I had been meaning to do another month's worth of posts when I uploaded my photos only to find that I had done very little baking that was post-worthy this month. I have, however, gotten pretty into cooking--expanding my repertoire to go beyond cake... Non-baking experiments might find their way to the internet soon, but for now, my latest project, inspired by LOST for the finale-viewing I attended on Sunday!

(Chocolate-espresso cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and black and white fondant "rocks"... Game on?)

Pizza!

A few weeks ago I decided to try making pizza dough. Despite all the baking I've been doing in my wonderful apartment kitchen over the last few months, breads haven't gotten much attention. I figured this might be a fun place to start. I used the recipe from my King Arthur Flour cookbook (it's marvelous)--used the white whole wheat flour again instead of plain white, and was very happy with the results. For toppings, I picked a sun dried tomato pesto, fresh fontina, asparagus, shallots, and prosciutto (di Parma!).

Pizza Dough
-1 3/4 c. warm water
-1 T. sugar
-1 package active dry yeast
-6 c. white whole wheat flour
-1/4 c. olive oil
-1 T. course salt

1. Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm water in a large mixing bowl. Wait several minutes for yeast to become active.
2. Add one cup of flour, olive oil, and salt. Combine. Add another 4 1/2 cups of flour and mix with a spoon until the dough comes together and pulls away from the side of the bowl.
3. Use the last 1/2 cup of flour to dust the kneading surface. Turn out dough, and knead until everything comes together. Allow the dough to rest while you grease the inside of a bowl, then continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic.
4. Put dough into greased bowl, cover, and allow it to rise until it has doubled in size (~1 hour).
5. Punch dough down, and knead out excess air. Cut dough as needed. [This recipe will make 2 thicker crust pizzas or 3 thinner crust pizzas.]
6. Roll out the dough to the desired size. If using a pan, oil it before arranging the pizza crust. Add toppings. Bake for 15-20 minutes (depending on the thickness of the crust) at 475* F.



(To keep the prosciutto from getting too crispy, add it to the pizza 2-3 minutes before the end of the baking time.)

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

This year for St. Patrick's day I made myself a "New England Boiled Dinner"--corned beef and cabbage, with some potatoes and carrots tossed in for good measure--and some Irish Soda Bread. So far I've only had baking posts, but I'm considering a foray into other foods, too (I like to pretend I can cook now and then). Chances are quite good that anything like that won't happen until summer, but I'm tossing in a not-baked photo at the end here, just to see how it looks!

Soda bread is probably the easiest bread in the universe to make. This is a recipe that I modified a little from a kids baking book that I was given when I was in middle school--it has withstood the (taste)test of time!

Irish Soda Bread
-1 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour (from King Arthur Flour)
-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
-2 t. baking soda
-2 t. baking powder
-1 t. salt
-3 T. sugar
-3 T. unsalted butter
-1 c. buttermilk

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Cut cold butter into the dry ingredients with knives or a pastry cutter.
2. Add buttermilk, mix until all ingredients are wet.
3. Turn mixture out onto floured surface and knead for about a minute, or until the dough holds together. Form it into a round loaf, and place on a parchment covered baking sheet.
4. Cut a cross into the top of the dough. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350* F.

The dough, pre-kneading. (Yes, those are my bags of King Arthur Flour in the background--a little free advertising for them; they're a VT company, and their products are wonderful!)


You can serve it in slices or wedges. Delicious either way!

Corned beef and cabbage, probably up to my grandmother's standards? And for anyone wondering, that's a Smithwick's in the background!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

(A whole month late...)

Welcoming Spring! (...with Devil's Food Cupcakes)

I'm back again, after another long hiatus--same excuses as last time! This semester has been something else. Until June, the once-monthly post explosions are probably going to be the norm.

Last month, some friends hosted a cook-off. That night I became wildly impressed by the culinary abilities of the people in my department! Anyway, my contribution was a dessert (what else?)--it was early March then, so I may have been jumping the gun a bit, but I was eager to welcome spring. That inspired the butterfly cupcake project! I knew I wanted to try the Swiss Meringue Buttercream again, but I was feeling pretty indecisive about the cake, so I ended up with some Devil's food, some yellow, and a handful of marble cupcakes.

This was an interesting experiment for me--the Devil's food and yellow cake recipes were from two different sources, but were almost identical in terms of ingredients and process, so I assumed they'd be fairly similar with respect to texture. Wrong. They were about as different as possible. Both tasted good, but the Devil's food had a beautiful crumb, and the yellow... less so. I'll probably try it again (perhaps when I'm not making two batters in tandem?), but for now we'll stick with the chocolate.

Devil's Food Cupcakes
-1 1/2 c. cake flour
-1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
-1 t. baking soda
-1 t. baking powder
-1 t. salt
-3/4 c. Dutch-process cocoa powder
-3/4 c. hot water
-1 1/2 c. unsalted butter
-2 1/4 c. sugar
-4 eggs
-1 T. vanilla extract
-1 c. sour cream

1. Whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Combine hot water and cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.
2. Melt butter and sugar in a saucepan, stirring. Remove from heat, pour into a mixing bowl, and beat for 4-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and cocoa mixture.
3. Alternate additions of flour mixture and sour cream; beat just until combined.
4. Divide into lined cups. Bake for 20 minutes at 350* F, rotating tins halfway through.

Hard to tell in this photo, but the Devil's food baked really beautifully--see how nicely they domed? And the yellow cakes were kind of flat.

Buttercream. A weakness of mine.

Some chocolate and candy butterflies (which took shockingly long to make--I wanted to document the process, but that would have required about 18 more hands). Also, I was going for more of a yellow frosting color; something weird happened there, but I think it still worked.

Happy spring!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Another muffin! For the record, I've actually tried other muffin recipes lately that don't involve chocolate; I just don't have photographic evidence of those...

This recipe was very quick and easy, but I wasn't terribly enamored with the final product. They were a little dense and dry. If I try them again, I think I'll lower the baking temperature after the first 10 minutes. Still good for a chocolate fix, though, and they looked nice!

Chocolate Chip Muffins
-2 eggs
-1/2 c. granulated sugar
-1/2 c. light brown sugar
-1/2 c. vegetable oil
-1 t. vanilla
-1/2 c. sour cream
-2 c. flour
-1/2 t. salt
-1/2 t. baking soda
-1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together eggs and sugars. Add in oil, vanilla, and sour cream.
2. Fold flour mixture into sugar mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Spoon into lined cups. Bake at 400* for 20 minutes. (Perhaps 400* for 10 minutes, and 360* for 10 minutes.)

Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins

I've been on a bit of a muffin kick for the last couple of weeks. Of the handful of recipes I've tried, this was by far my favorite. They rise quite nicely, and the coffee flavor was perfect. I think they would have been good even without the chocolate chips, but they were an added bonus!

Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins
-2 c. flour
-1 1/8 c. granulated sugar
-2 t. baking powder
-1/2 t. salt
-1/2 c. butter
-2 t. unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Dutch-process)
-2 packets Starbucks Via*, or 2 T. espresso powder
-2 eggs
-2/3 c. milk
-1 t. vanilla
-1 1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Melt the butter, and mix in cocoa powder and coffee. Allow the mixture to cool slightly.
2. Whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. Add the butter mixture and the egg mixture to the flour mixture. Gently fold in chocolate chips.
3. Spoon batter into lined cups. Bake at 375* for 20 minutes
(*I used the Starbucks Via this time; it's great for baking!)

Cranberry Spice Cookies

I went home a few weekends ago for a quick visit with the family; most people assumed that I was *actually* going to visit the mixer... Maybe.

While there, mom suggested trying a new cookie recipe. These were different, but very good, and REALLY quick to make! I'll definitely be making these again soon.

Cranberry Spice Cookies
-1/2 c. unsalted butter
-2 c. flour, divided
-1/4 c. milk, divided
-1 c. brown sugar
-1 egg
-2 t. cinnamon
-1 t. baking powder
-1/2 t. cloves
-1 1/2 c. chopped fresh or frozen cranberries

1. Combine butter, HALF the flour, HALF the milk, sugar, egg, baking powder, and spices. Mix in the remaining flour and milk.
2. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased (or parchment lined) cookie sheet. Bake at 375* for 10 minutes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes, Revisited

And now I'm posting the recipe from the third attempt. I think these were the best. The texture is awesome, and the flavor was as close as I've gotten to my ideal! This ended up being the fusion of a few recipes--by the third time, I was not afraid of experimenting a little, and that ended up being a good decision.

Red Velvet Cupcakes (again)
-2 1/2 c. cake flour
-1 1/2 T. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
-1 1/2 t. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
-1 t. salt
-1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
-1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
-2 eggs
-red food coloring (2 T. liquid, or 1 t. gel)
-1 t. vanilla
-1 c. buttermilk
-1 1/2 t. baking soda
-1 T. vinegar

1. Whisk together flour, cocoa powders, and salt. Beat together sugar and oil. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and food coloring.
2. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in three parts, alternating with two additions of buttermilk.
3. Combine the vinegar and baking soda in a small bowl. Add to batter and mix for 10 seconds.
4. Pour batter into lined cups. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes, rotating tins halfway through.

(Same cream cheese frosting as before--it's a keeper!)