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!)

"Jarcakes"

This year, Valentine's Day fell during the Red Velvet Craze of 2010. I wanted to spread a bit of the holiday joy, so I tried to figure out how to mail cupcakes. After a little bit of research, Mason jars seemed like they would be the best option. With some inspiration from various bloggers and Etsy vendors, I decided to give it a shot. I didn't realize, however, that finding the right jars would be such a challenge. There is no shortage of canning equipment in Vermont--such things proved a bit more elusive in Rhode Island. Finally, however, I struck gold at Adler's (they always seem to have the one thing I can't find anywhere else; I should start looking there first...), so on we go!

A 4 oz. quilted jelly jar. Exactly cupcake-sized. (It sounds like you can also use wide-mouth half-pint jars.)

There seemed to be a few different ideas about how to assemble everything in the jars. I decided to slice the cupcakes in half horizontally, with a layer of frosting piped in the middle. I also tried a couple with three layers of cake; it seemed to work well too. Some of the examples I saw had the frosting on the top, but that seemed like it would be a bit messy when the lids came off.

Assembled!

I put these in the freezer overnight, and then wrapped them in tissue paper and packaged them right before shipping them Priority mail (2-3 days). Looks like they made the trip pretty well!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I love most cakes, particularly the chocolates and the yellows and the variants thereof. More than any other, however, I love red velvet cake. I didn't try red velvet until maybe five years ago, at Tippecanoe Place in South Bend. I think their recipe has become the standard to which I compare all others, and few come close. So, this February I attempted to perfect my red velvet cupcakes--I tried three times in two weeks, learning tricks along the way; all were good, and now I think I almost have it... Here's the recipe from the second attempt!

Red Velvet Cupcakes
-2 1/4 c. cake flour
-1 1/2 t. baking soda
-pinch salt
-1 c. buttermilk
-1 T. white vinegar
-1 t. vanilla
-2 eggs
-2 T. unsweetened natural cocoa powder
-2 T. red food coloring
-3/4 c. unsalted butter
-1 1/2 c. granulated sugar

1. Whisk together buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and eggs in a large measuring cup. Combine food coloring with cocoa in a small bowl to form a paste. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. Beat together butter and sugar. Add the flour mixture in three portions, alternating with two additions of the liquid mixture. Add the cocoa mixture, and beat until the batter is well combined.
3. Pour into lined cups. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes, rotating tins halfway through.

Cream Cheese Frosting
-1 c. unsalted butter
-12 oz. cream cheese
-4 c. confectioners' sugar
-3/4 t. vanilla

1. Beat together butter and cream cheese until fluffy (2-3 minutes).
2. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time and beat until smooth. Add vanilla.
3. Frost cupcakes. (I tried piping--it seemed to hold its shape pretty nicely!)

Look at that gorgeous color!

(And these baking cups are amazing. They're grease-proof, and Sweedish.)

Mocha Cupcakes

And I'm back!

Apologies for the six week hiatus--it corresponds directly to the beginning of a very hectic semester! School has decided to be extra challenging these days, and I'm okay with that, but it has severely minimized the time I can consider "free". Also, my computer has chosen to play mind games with me lately, so both of those things have factored into my lack of posting. There has certainly been no shortage of baking activity, however, so I plan to make up for that now! I've got a month's worth of posts, and I'm determined to do nothing else this evening... That brings us to the first: Mocha Cupcakes!

Priya and I decided to host a get-together about a month ago, so I figured that would be a good occasion to make cupcakes. Really, I can't think of many occasions that wouldn't be improved by cupcakes, but ordinarily I don't have a house full of other people to help eat them. So this was ideal. I thought these came out very well--the texture was excellent. Both the coffee and chocolate flavors were detectable, and it didn't seem to me that either was overwhelming. And the frosting was pretty astonishing. I'm still fairly new to the frosting-making, so I was very pleased with the finished product. It was very much the buttercream flavor, but the consistency was far silkier than any I've ever tried before. And it was wonderful to work with--I tried a bit of piping, but look forward to experimenting with it further. I didn't take any photos during the baking phase (party-prep...), but I did manage to get a couple shots of them all dressed up. Black-tie?

Mocha Cupcakes
-2 1/4 c. cake flour
-2 T. unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
-1/2 c. unsalted butter
-1 1/2 c. light brown sugar
-2 eggs
-1 t. vanilla
-1 1/2 t. baking soda
-1/4 t. salt
-1/2 c. sour cream
-3/4 c. boiling water
-1 1/2 T. espresso powder

1. Whisk together flour and cocoa. Mix boiling water and espresso powder. Allow it to cool.
2. Cream together butter and brown sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in three portions, alternating with two additions of the sour cream. Add espresso mix and beat until smooth.
4. Pour batter into 24 lined cups. Bake at 325* for 22 minutes, rotating tins halfway through.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting
(**The original recipe I had was for 5 cups; this makes about 3 cups, which was more than enough to frost 24 cupcakes, but the fractions are a little unconventional...**)
-3 egg whites
-2/3 c. granulated sugar

-pinch of salt

-1 c. + 3.2 T. unsalted butter
-1 t. vanilla

1. Heat egg whites, sugar, and salt over a pan of simmering water, whisking continually until the mixture is warm and the sugar has dissolved.
2. Remove the bowl from the heat, and with the whisk attachment of an electric mixer, whisk the mixture until stiff (not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and cool.
3. Add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, whisking continually. Add vanilla.
4. Switch to the beating attachment, and beat until all the air has been removed and the mixture is completely smooth (the recipe said 2 minutes, but that wasn't enough for mine--I just kept beating until it looked like frosting, and that approach seemed to work too). At this point, you can add food coloring and continue blending to tint the icing; I left mine white.
5. Spread or pipe onto cupcakes.

(Here they're modeling my new Wilton cupcake/cake carrier--it's awesome!)

It's good to be back!

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Until quite recently, I had not tried tiramisu--it has very quickly become a favorite. Imagine my intrigue, then, when I found a recipe for tiramisu cupcakes. To be honest, I was completely intimidated by the process. There were a lot of steps involved, and each seemed like it could offer very real potential for failure--I very nearly put this attempt off until another day. But upon further consideration, I decided to give it a go. I'm horribly spoiled by still being on vacation, and that meant I had all of yesterday to devote to this project. I visited several stores in the morning to gather up all the necessary ingredients, and spent the better part of the afternoon tackling this recipe... very cautiously! After a few hours, and several rounds of dish washing, I had a finished product that was actually pretty good! Certainly different from real tiramisu, but quite nice all the same. I will definitely be making these again.

Tiramisu Cupcakes
-1 1/4 c. cake flour
-3/4 t. baking powder
-1/2 t. course salt
-1/4 c. milk
-1 T. vanilla
-1/4 c. unsalted butter
-3 eggs + 3 egg yolks
-1 c. sugar

1. Heat milk and vanilla in small saucepan. Stir in butter until melted. Let cool 15 minutes.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in small bowl; set aside.
3. Whisk together eggs, egg yolks, and sugar. Set bowl over pan of simmering water and whisk by hand for ~6 minutes (until sugar is dissolved). Remove from heat, and whisk on high until fluffy, pale yellow, and thick enough to hold a ribbon on the surface for several seconds.
4. Fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Add 1/2 cup of batter into milk mixture to thicken; fold milk mixture into batter.
5. Divide batter among 18 baking cups. Bake at 325* for 20 minutes, rotating tins halfway through.

Espresso-Marsala Syrup
-1/3 c + 1 T. freshly brewed espresso
-1 oz. sweet marsala
-1/4 c. sugar

1. Stir together coffee, marsala, and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool.
2. Using a pastry brush, brush syrup onto cakes until all syrup is gone. Allow it to be absorbed for 30 minutes.

Mascarpone Frosting
-1 c. heavy cream
-1 c. mascarpone cheese
-1/2 c. confectioners' sugar

1. Whisk together mascarpone cheese and confectioners' sugar.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk cream until stiff peaks form.
3. Fold cream into mascarpone mixture until fully combined.
4. Frost cupcakes. Refrigerate in airtight containers. Dust with cocoa powder before serving.

(Brushed with syrup!)

Mmm.

Cranberry Shortbread Squares

Here's a nice variation on the classic shortbread recipe. The cranberries add some tartness to the buttery shortbread, and they make a basic cookie a little bit fancier.

Cranberry Shortbread Squares
-1 c. unsalted butter, softened
-3/4 c. confectioners' sugar
-1 t. vanilla
-2 c. flour
-1/2 t. salt
-1/2 c. dried cranberries (optional: chopped)

1. Combine butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, and salt in a bowl. Use a wooden spoon or a pastry cutter to mix ingredients. Add cranberries.
2. On a lightly floured surface, flatten dough to 1/2"-3/4". Cut into 2" squares. (Optional: sprinkle with sugar before baking.)
3. Bake at 325* for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

The Gingerbread Post!

So with the new mixer in the kitchen, mom and I decided that we could do some serious gingerbreading this year. We were trying to remember how long making gingerbread cookies had been a tradition for us--we think our first attempt was in 1993. This time we made a double batch (that's *12* cups of flour in the mixer!), so we ended up with about 120 cookies. The decorating took the better part of two nights, but as usual, we had a lot of fun being creative.

AND. This year, decorating coincided with the arrival of a beautiful new 50mm lens, so a HUGE thank you to Blake for making these photos possible!