Red Velvet Cupcakes (With Cream Cheese Frosting)

I made these from a cake recipe so they produce a lot of cupcakes (around 30), so they were perfect for bringing over the family's for Thanksgiving!  The cream cheese frosting is perfect with it, even for those who don't usually like super sweet frosting. These also make a very festive dessert for Christmas celebrations due to the really nice color the recipe produces. 

If you want to make a regular cake, the originally recipe uses two 8x2 inch round pans.

For the cake:

Ingredients:

½ cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 oz. red food coloring

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 2 ¼ cups cake flour)

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

1 tablespoon white vinegar

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8 inch round baking pans with cake release or pan spray. In large mixer bowl, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs and food color. Blend well. Stir together flour, cocoa, and salt.  Add alternatively with buttermilk to batter mixture, beating until blended. Blend in baking soda.  Add vinegar and fold in carefully.  Pour batter into prepared pans.  Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely.

For the Frosting:

Ingredients:

½ cup butter

1 8 oz. pkg. of cream cheese

2 tsp. vanilla

4-6 cups confectioner’s sugar

         In a mixer, cream together butter and cream cheese.  Add vanilla. Add 4-6 cups powdered sugar depending on desired consistency. 

Chocolate Cupcakes

So!  I finally was able to go home and bake this weekend!!  I was so excited.  Not so excited that I won't be home until Thanksgiving, but still excited enough to bake!  So I make chocolate cupcakes with traditional buttery frosting.  I decorated them with green colored frosting and mini pumpkin peeps- yup they have mini pumpkin peeps!!  These cakes are moist, chocolaty and delicious!!

This recipe as written makes 22 cupcakes:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 1/2 full. (if you want to decorate them)
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Frost with your favorite frosting when cool.

The frosting is simple but you will definitely want to use a stand mixer.
1 cup butter
1 cup Crisco
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 lb bag of powdered sugar
1/4 cup of more of milk

Beat the butter and Crisco together until smooth.  Add vanilla and beat until mixed. Alternately mix in powdered sugar and milk.  The resulting consistency should be easily spreadable or your desired consistency.