Red Velvet Cupcakes Add Festive And Sweet Touch To Christmas Season
Dear readers:
I realize I haven't posted a yummy recipe for a long time! I've been craving red velvet cake for a while now, and finally decided that, when my local bakery did not carry it in cupcake (or any other) form, I'd have to make them myself. Not such a hardship, since I love spending time in the kitchen! Red velvet cake is an interesting mix of tanginess and mild chocolate flavor, with a red cake batter. If I had some red sugar sprinkles, it would have been nice to dust the frosted tops with it.
I was very impressed with the McCormick version, which had perfect texture and just enough chocolate flavor. I found that the recipe made way too much batter for two cupcake pans, so maybe if you have a smaller pan to add the extra batter to, that might not be a bad idea. I filled the cupcake liners more than two-thirds full, which resulted in nice, rounded tops. Enjoy!
Red Velvet Cupcakes from McCormick
Makes 30 (mine made more)
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 bottle (1 ounce) red food color
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Spoon batter into 30 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup more than 2/3 full.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. Frost with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting:
Beat one package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened, 1 stick butter, softened, 2 tablespoons sour cream and 2 teaspoons vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in one box (16 ounces) confectioner's sugar until smooth.
Nutritional Information:
Do you really want to know? ;-)
