The photos at the end of this post could be construed as NWS for many people. Do not look if you don’t like seeing penises or if you are at work.
Yesterday was Gunnar’s (my brother in law) birthday. He requested red velvet for his birthday cake flavor. I had never made it so I spent the morning looking around for a good recipe. I lean toward cupcakes instead of cake because they are self-serving sized. I found a few that looked good but ended up settling on Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting because I have made a bunch of different cupcakes from her site and they have all come out pretty awesome.
The only change I made to the recipe was to add an extra 1/4 cup of cocoa powder to the mix. I added more chocolate because in her notes, the author mentions that the cupcakes were not chocolatey enough for her. I figured, if they weren’t chocolatey enough for her, chances are I would want it to be more chocolatey as well. The cocoa powder seemed to make it a little too dry though. They tasted pretty perfect but maybe if we do liquid chocolate or add a little more butter to the mix, it will make them more moist. I will definitely make them again! 😀 The frosting, as usual, was amazing. I used the baking soda and baking powder version for mine instead of cream of tartar.
Chockylit wrote an extensive post on the difference between the two at the link above. I highly recommend reading it! I will post the recipe here for ease of use though.
Recipe courtesy The Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Makes 36 cupcakes / 350 degree oven
3-3/4 cups cake flour
1/4 cups cocoa (I used 1/2 cup total in mine)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder or 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
3/8 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
3 teaspoons vinegar
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 ounce red food coloring paste
2-1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups butter
3 eggs
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder (or cream of tarter), and salt into medium bowl.
Whisk buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and food coloring in small bowl to blend.
Beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well fluffy, 3 minutes.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition, about 30 seconds.
Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions.
Scoop into cupcake tins and bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
Cool in pans 10 minutes then remove and finish cooling completely on racks.
Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting
12 ounces or 1-1/2 packages of Philly cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
4-5 cups sifted powdered sugar
seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Bring cheese and butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours. (I ended up letting mine sit
for at least 2 hours to get it soft enough)
Sift powdered sugar into a bowl or onto parchment (I sifted the 4 cups of sugar into a bowl. I only needed that
much for the frosting.)
Beat butter and cheese at medium speed until creamy.
Add 4 cups of the sugar and beat until combined.
Add vanillas and beat until combined.
Add more sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.
While the cupcakes were cooling, I went to work on the decorations for the cupcakes. I had gotten some marzipan for stars on my 4th of July cupcakes and had some leftover. I took a bit of that and shaped 36 small penises out of it. They looked adorable but I thought some needed to be different colors. Originally, I was going to make them a peachy flesh tone but the food coloring mixed with a little vodka I used for paint made them look like they were coming from the Jersey Shore! I colored 9 that color, 9 a darker color, and left the rest almond paste colored. They were a HUGE hit. Everyone thought they were hilarious. 😀
Cupcake batter:
Baked cupcakes:
Penises:
Completed cupcakes!
Galadriel's Culinary Adventures 