red velvet cupcakes

I wish I'd taken pictures of these before my roommates ate them all, the ones I made were even more adorable. The photo above is from elise.com.

Against my better judgment, I started baking at 11 p.m. on Valentine's Day. It had been a good rendition of a holiday I usually ignore, I had some mascarpone cheese to use up, and I owed my sister a red velvet cake. These turned out less sweet than most cupcakes, which made me very happy. They were somewhere between muffins and cupcakes, which Alan dubbed 'cuppins,' and also something else you can guess at. The cake part of the recipe is from elise.com, and I used a variation on the frosting recipe from the gin and tonic cupcake recipe from yumsugar.com, which I made a few weeks ago and loved. It's a perfect frosting, since I don't like a lot of sugary stuff on my cuppins, and I even got into the holiday spirit and put red sprinkles on them! Obviously these can be made in any color or combination thereof that tickles your fancy.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1/2 cup of butter at room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/3 cups of flour
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder (an extra tbsp or two wouldn't hurt)
  
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of buttermilk*
• 1 tablespoon of red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

*You can make your own buttermilk by adding a tablespoon of distilled white vinegar to milk and letting it stand for about 10 minutes. (I chose the recipe because of this, as I don't ever have buttermilk on hand... it made me very happy, and worked like a charm.)

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer for 3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy.

2 Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is fully incorporated. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

3 In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract, and red food coloring.

4 Add a fourth of the dry ingredients and mix, then add a third of the wet. Continue adding in a dry, wet, dry pattern, ending with the dry ingredients.

5 Scoop into cupcake papers, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate the pan after the first 15 minutes of baking to ensure even baking.

6 Allow to cool for one minute in the pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes. (I got about 21 out of it, but I made them big and puffy.)

Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup mascarpone
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 drop red food coloring (I made the frosting pink)

1 Mix together with an egg beater, frost cupcakes. This recipe makes enough for one small dollop on top of each cupcake, double it if you want more thoroughly frosted treats. It's a fairly rich frosting, though, so be careful.