Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Red velvet is the new trend in baking.  You can find everything from red velvet cookies to pancakes.  Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised when my best friend’s fiancé asked me to make red velvet cupcakes for her 30^th birthday party.  I was thrilled!  I love making people happy through my food J. 

After I stole her cupcake tower and pastry bags with decorating attachments, I got to work lol.  You would think I would have my own stash with all of the cooking and baking I do.  I digress… 

One of the reasons why I love cooking is because I often get to use my scientific mind to figure out why things work the way they do.  (I’m an engineer by trade).  Well, key ingredients in any red velvet baking dish are buttermilk, vinegar, cocoa and red food coloring.  The combination of buttermilk and vinegar bring out the anthocyanins (a fancy word for “pigments”) in the cocoa.   The Dutch processing that occurs with most cocoa nowadays adds alkalinity and therefore, reduces the appearance of the anthocyanins.  Red food coloring is added to overcome this and results in a brighter red color.

Cupcakes:

2 ½ c cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp cocoa powder

½ c unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ c sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1/8 c water

2 tsp red food coloring

1c buttermilk

1 tsp white vinegar

Frosting:

8oz cream cheese, softened

½ c butter, softened

3c powdered sugar

½ tsp salt

 1 tsp vanilla

Tip: In the winter months, it may take FOREVER for your butter to soften.  A trick I use is to put the stick of butter between two layers of plastic wrap.  Roll out butter using a rolling pin.  Voila!  Perfectly softened butter!

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners.  This recipe makes 24 cupcakes.

Sift flour, salt, and cocoa powder into a large bowl and set aside.  Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer over medium speed until fluffy.   

Crack eggs into a separate bowl and add vanilla.  Pour one egg into the butter mixture and mix until creamy.  Pour in the second egg and continue mixing until well combined.

Combine water, food coloring, and buttermilk.  Pour into mixing bowl and mix well.  Combine vinegar and baking soda.  It will foam.  Pour into mixing bowl and mix well.

Option:  You may add more food coloring if you like.  I’m not a fan of dyes in my food so I used as little as possible.  This resulted in a more red-brown color rather than bright red.  Some other recipes call for anywhere up to ¼ c of food coloring.

Slowly add dry ingredients to wet mixture.  Scrape down sides when needed.  Mix until just combined.  Be sure not to over-mix the batter.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the liners and bake at 350F for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.  Note: times may vary based on oven.

Clean out mixing bowl and paddle attachment.  Whip butter and cream cheese until creamed.  In a separate bowl, sift powdered sugar and salt.  Gradually, add the powdered sugar mixture to the cream cheese mixture and scrape down sides as needed.  Mix in vanilla.  Frost cooled cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting.

Irish Car-bomb Cupcakes

St. Patrick's Day is up there on my list of fave holidays. I mean really, it's awesome - green is my favorite color and I like beer, so done and done! And then there are the Irish Car-bombs. Now these are seriously fun. You drop a split shot of Jameson whiskey and Irish cream liqueur into a half pint of Guinness. And then you drink it fast. It's a once a year deal in our house and I look forward to it all year. Here is an Irish Car-bomb that I can have at least once more a year and stretch out the joy a bit!

Irish Carbomb Cupcakes - recipe by Smitten Kitchen
Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 cupcake tins with 24 regular-sized liners. 

For the cupcakes
1 cup of Guinness
1 cup of butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

I made the cupcakes a few hours before I started any frosting. I'll list the instructions in the order of steps I took.

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to combine and set aside.
2. Combine eggs and sour cream in a stand mixer. Don't mix just set. Set aside.
3. Measure out cocoa powder and then simmer Guinness and butter in a saucepan until butter melts and mixture is simmering. It needs to get hot, but not boiling.
4. Whisk cocoa into butter and Guinness mixture. Pour into a new bowl to cool the mixture.
5. In the stand mixer, mix sour cream and eggs. Add in cooled chocolate and Guinness mixture. Stir to just combine.
6. Add flour and sugar mixture to chocolate mixture and mix very briefly with the stand mixer. Fold with a spatula if it needs a bit more stirring. Batter will be VERY loose and thin. It's OK, it cooks just fine!

Let the cupcakes cool completely. Then start in on the frosting and filling.

For the Ganache Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used "Bakers" brand semi-sweet chocolate and it was great!)
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter (room temp and cut into 4 pieces)
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (I used Jameson)

1. Chop up all of the chocolate - the smaller the pieces, the easier it will be to melt everything.
2. Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over low heat. Heat to just simmering. (Look for little bubbles or froth around the edges of the pan.)
3. Add the chocolate to the simmering cream and let it sit for a full minute. You'll see the chocolate become melty. Stir to combine - the chocolate should stir in easily.
4. Stir in the whiskey and the butter and stir until everything is combined and smooth.

Set the ganache aside. Stir it occasionally as it cools to room temp. It took mine about 30 minutes to cool off completely. I then let it sit for about an hour and it was fine. No, it was lovely - I dipped a strawberry in it to test it.

Last but not least...
For the Irish Cream Frosting
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 stick softened butter
4 tablespoons Irish cream liqueur

1. In a mixing bowl with a hand mixer, whip the butter until it's light and fluffy. 
2. Start adding in the powdered sugar about 1/4 cup at a time.
3. Add the Irish cream a tablespoon at a time when the butter and sugar mixture begins to form clumps.
4. Keep adding sugar and Irish cream until the frosting is the consistency you like it. I used 3 1/2 cups of sugar and all of the liqueur.

Now you can finally start making your cupcakes!! I have a fancy stocking-stuffer-gift tool that specifically cores out cupcakes, but a small knife or an apple corer would work just as well. 

Core out cupcakes, making sure not to cut through the bottom of the cupcakes. Pipe in ganache and pack it down with a butter knife. I used a ziplock back with a hole cut in the corner to do my piping. It worked great, except that I only have "snack size" ziplocks and re-filling a frosting filled ziplock baggie is messy. 

Pipe Irish cream frosting on top of the ganache filling. I used the same ziplock baggie technique. Sprinkle on sanding sugar and devour! 

 

A few things about this recipe...

The frosting tastes pretty boozy the day you make it. I made these Sunday and took them to work on Monday. By Monday the frosting had totally mellowed out and was amazing!

The beer is adds depth to the chocolate cupcakes, but they do not taste beery at all.


The ganache is just a tad spicy from the whiskey and it's just wonderful!

If you're not a beer or booze fan, I think the alcohol cooks out of the cupcakes and the ganache doesn't need the whiskey at all to get the right consistency. And you could substitute milk for the Irish whiskey in the buttercream frosting to make the whole recipe suitable for non-drinkers.

Here's a cute way to package up single cupcakes... it's just a plastic punch cup and a cellophane bag. 

Here are Car-bomb drinks going down... all the ingredients were open... can you blame us for jumping the gun on St. Patrick's Day?

Cheers!!

Stuffed Peppers and Mushrooms…with Buttercream Icing for Touchdown Cupcakes

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL????  We are!  My husband and I started a couples fantasy football league and to culminate the season, we decided to throw a football party for NFL playoffs.  All of the couples in the fantasy league came over to watch football, eat great food, and drink…a lot :)  Here is the list of things we served: buffalo wings with homemade blue cheese dressing, nacho bar, stuffed peppers and mushrooms, potato skins, cupcakes and cookies.  Whew!  Yes, I’m exhausted…to say the least!

In preparation for all of your Super Bowl parties, I wanted to share the recipes for the stuffed peppers and mushrooms, and the homemade buttercream icing I made for the cupcakes.  Both were a huge hit!  The idea for stuffed peppers and mushrooms came from my mother.  She has been making these stuffed mushrooms for years!  However, I am not a huge fan of mushrooms so I decided to try the stuffing on peppers and…OH MY.  Needless to say, I think you could put this stuffing on pretty much anything and it would make your day.

Stuffed Peppers and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

16oz cream cheese, softened

16oz shredded Swiss cheese

2 pork breakfast sausage rolls (2 lb)

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1.5 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

Jalepenos

Bell peppers

Baby portabella mushrooms

Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat.  Brown sausage in skillet.  In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese and Swiss cheese.  Add sausage and stir until combined.  Add remaining ingredients and stir until well-mixed.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Remove stems and dig out insides of portabella mushrooms.  Fill mushrooms with sausage mixture and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Cut jalepenos in half, removing seeds and stems.  Fill each half with sausage mixture and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Cut bell peppers in quarters or the desired size for filling.  Fill each with sausage mixture and place on the same cookie sheet.

Cook at 375F for about 20mins or until peppers and mushrooms have softened, cheese is melted, and stuffing is warmed through.

Note: Heating times may vary for peppers and mushrooms. 

Unfortunately, during all of the party craziness, I forgot to get a good picture of the final cooked peppers and mushrooms.  I know...that is a food blog NO-NO!!!  Hopefully by now you trust me, but if not, this is the best I have :)

As for the cupcakes, I call these my semi-homemade Touchdown Cupcakes.  They were perfect for the football party and people couldn’t get enough of them.  For the cake, I used the box Duncan Hines confetti cake mix.  Here is the recipe for the deliciously buttery and creamy icing:

Ingredients:

1c butter, softened

3c confectioner’s sugar, sifted

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp heavy whipping cream

Place butter in a stand mixer and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.  Add sifted sugar.  Start mixing on the lowest speed until sugar and butter start to combine.  Increase speed to medium.  Sugar and butter will clump together.  Once the clumping occurs, increase speed until butter mixture is creamed.  Reduce speed and add remaining ingredients until combined. 

Note: You can store icing on the counter overnight in a sealed container.  If storing in refrigerator for a couple of days, bring to room temp and whisk before using.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting... and a little something extra

I am a summer person... I may have said this before, but I am totally all about hot weather and shorts. But, I am totally inspired by fall food! Pumpkin and spice cupcakes really hit the spot. Smothered in cream cheese frosting, and dusted with cinnamon, these didn't last long. And, like a fool, I gave away the few left overs. Shame on me!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes - slightly adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes 14 regular size cupcakes and a dozen mini-cupcakes, or about 20 regular cupcakes 

Preheat oven to 350

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4 eggs
1 can of pumpkin puree (15 oz size)

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices together in a large bowl.

In another bowl, cream butter and sugars, add eggs and mix till smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree until well blended. Don't worry about getting rid of all the lumps. The batter is pretty thick.

Fill cupcake liners until about 3/4 of the way full. I like to use an ice cream scoop to help keep cupcakes an even size. (It also keeps things cleaner. And I use this for making cookies so they are all the same size.) Bake about 20 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Let these cool completely before you frost!

Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes about 3 cups of frosting - I dolloped a ton of frosting on 14 cupcakes and had tons of left overs. This amount of frosting would easily frost a two layer cake. 

1 brick of cream cheese (8 oz size)
1 cup (2 sticks of butter)
4 cups of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons maple syrup (or vanilla)

Whip softened butter and cream cheese together until smooth and fluffy. Start with 2 cups of powdered sugar, and whisk in remaining sugar until the frosting is the consistency you want. You may need a little more, or a little less. Whisk in maple syrup. Chill for a few minutes and dollop onto cupcakes. Dust lightly with cinnamon.

So... like I sort of mentioned earlier, I make 14 regular cupcakes and 12 minis... here's what I did with the minis...

Pumpkin Spice "Doughnut Holes"
Makes 12 glorious treats

12 mini muffins
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons melted butter

Melt butter in a wide bow. Mix sugar and cinnamon on a small plate. While mini-muffins are still hot, roll them in butter and then roll them in cinnamon sugar. Cool a bit and re-roll in cinnamon sugar. 

Enjoy!