Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 more days until Christmas! Yipee!!!

Christmas is my FAVORITE holiday. Spending time with family, gift-giving, eating, and being merry. That's what Christmas is all about. With our family, Christmas is a two-day affair. Christmas Eve, or Noche Buena, is the eve when we await the arrival of Christ. So its a huge celebration at my parents's house with lots of food and opening presents. Christmas day is spent at our house with my in-laws and we do it all over again with alot more food.

With that said, preparations have to start early. This year I decided to make a few desserts, one with this recipe from Beantown Baker for Red Velvet Cupcakes. I have another Red Velvet Cake recipe that I usually turn to, but realized, after trying other Red Velvet Cakes or cupcakes, that mine seemed a bit dry. I did make a batch of my original Red Velvet cake recipe to make Bon-Bons as well.

The first batch I made of this recipe today came out dry and somewhat chewy. So I trashed a whole batch. What a disaster. Luckily I had enough time and ingredients to make another batch. Then I realized that I had used regular all-purpose flour in the first batch instead of the cake flour it called for. So I made the 2nd batch correctly and it came out so perfect and so moist. I think I may have found a new red velvet cake recipe.

Cake
2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp. (1 oz bottle) red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. white distilled vinegar

1) Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line muffin pans with muffin cups.

2) Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt into a medium bowl. Beat eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined.

3)Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Bake for 25-30 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Frost with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese frosting (recipe below)


Brown Sugar Cream Cheese frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
4-6 cups powdered sugar
2-4 Tbsp. milk, depending on consistency

1) Cream the cream cheese with an electric mixer for about 1 minute. Add butter and beat for 1-2 minutes, until well incorporated.

2) Add brown sugar, salt, and vanilla extract and beat until well incorporated.

3) Slowly add 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat well. Continue adding powdered sugar and alternating with the milk until desired consistency.