A Reason to Celebrate (and Bake!)

Last Thursday, my friend Meryl's co-workers threw her a going-away party. Starting tomorrow, she'll be working at Food Network Magazine (and hopefully accepting my recipe pitches). One of Meryl's favorite things are red velvet cupcakes. I love any reason to celebrate - and lately, any reason to bake - so I decided to make her a batch. Red velvet cupcakes - particularly the cream cheese frosting on top - also happen to be one of my favorite things. I was extremely excited Dave bought me an electric beater (ah, the things that make me happy these days), and even more excited he was there to help. Beating butter and sugar is no easy feat, people. Be sure your butter is as soft as possible, so that chunks of butter and sugar don't go flying all over your just-cleaned apartment. Hopefully that Kitchenmaid Mixer I've been pining for will magically be waiting outside my door when I come home from work one of these days. In any case, I was quite pleased with the way these cupcakes turned out - and I think everyone at the party was, too. They're a great accompaniment to beer, wine and reminiscing. Meryl told me these were some of the best red velvets she's ever had. Coming from her, that's a huge compliment.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Adapted from Demolition Desserts

Ingredients
8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
Scant 2 Tablespoons Red Food coloring

Preheat oven to 325. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda, making sure to break up any lumps. Add the kosher salt after whisking and set aside. Combine the red food coloring with the buttermilk for easier incorporation.

Cream the butter and the sugar using an electric mixer, until the mixture is pale and fluffy (again, beware of flying chunks!). Add the eggs one at a time, letting the eggs beat for 1 minute in between additions. Scrape down the bowl in between additions.

Add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients. Start by adding one third of the flour mixture. Mix just to incorporate. Add half of the buttermilk. Add another one third of the flour mixture. Mix to incorporate. Add the last half of buttermilk, followed by the last third of flour.


Spoon into paper lined cupcake pans. Check the cupcakes after 20 minutes. I found they were perfect after 22 minutes.

Makes 12-14 cupcakes.



Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Joy the Baker

The cupcake recipe should be doubled for the amount of frosting this recipe produces. I had a ton leftover. Instead of attacking it with my spoon, I decided use the remaining frosting for Carrot Cake cupcakes.

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
8oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons milk
1-2 cups powdered sugar (use a rolling pin over the bag of sugar to eliminate lumps)

Cream the butter and cream cheese together in an electric mixer (Be sure that the two are at room temperature. Cold cream cheese or butter can make your frosting lumpy). Add the brown sugar and vanilla extract, and beat for about 2 minutes. Turn off mixer and add 2 cups of powdered sugar. Turn the mixer on a low speed so the sugar doesn’t fly out of the bowl. Slowly add more sugar alternately with the milk until you reach your desired consistency.