Red, Red Velvet

I rarely pass up an opportunity to bake something, so when our friend Russ told me about his upcoming bake sale*, I immediately offered to donate some baked goods. He accepted my offer and then I began to think about what I should make. I finally decided upon red velvet cupcakes since I was going to be making them for Christmas and have never made them before.

I made mini cupcakes for the bake sale, however I had a slight issue with the wrappers. I bought mini cupcake wax paper wrappers at my grocery store, but they were slightly too big for my Wilton mini cupcake pan. So the first batch came out with the wrapper folding in on itself and some had uneven bottoms. You can see these in the picture, although I tried to take the best ones. The second batch I decided to not use the wrappers and they looked great, unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of these.

Anyway, other than the wrapper issue, the cupcakes were pretty straight forward. The most important part is the alternating between adding the dry and wet ingredients. This well help you get a smoother batter and prevents gluten from forming. When gluten forms it inhibits baked goods from rising and will make it a denser. The gluten will make the cake more like a bread consistency, instead of a moist cake. So to prevent this, you coat your flour and dry ingredients with a fat first (the butter, sugar, eggs) before adding the other liquids. Also note, you shouldn't add the wet ingredients first because it will break the emulsion formed by the butter and eggs. And be careful not to over beat the batter, that could also lead to gluten forming! If you follow the steps correctly, you should have a wonderful, moist cake.

Here's the recipe I used:

Cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 1/3 cups of cake flour
• 2 tablespoons of Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of buttermilk*
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer for 3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Allow to cool for one minute in the pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
• 8 oz of Philly cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
• 2 - 3 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
2. Add the vanilla extract and mix.
3. Add the powdered sugar, continually taste to get to desired sweetness. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Here was my final result, I hope yours come out just as tasty!


*The bake sale was a fundraiser for Manhattan College's Lasallian Outreach Volunteer Experience (L.O.V.E.). The group will be heading down to New Orleans to help build houses for those to need. Russ is supervising the trip of students and if you're interested in donating to this great program, leave a comment and we'll be in touch!

GOBBLE, GOBBLE!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was great. Doug and I went to his Aunt's house and ate a ton of delicious food. The next day I was lucky enough to go to my parents' house and hang out with them, my brother and sisters and eat tons of leftovers. I think I ate turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc for a good 2 weeks straight! You may be asking yourself, how I had leftovers for 2 weeks, well, it's because our friend group has a lovely tradition of having a pre-Thanksgiving, dubbed Fakesgiving. Our annual Fakesgiving is held the Saturday before actual Thanksgiving and involves great friends, the normal Thanksgiving feast, and lots of wine & beer.

This year, Doug and I hosted and were honored to make the turkey for everyone. We bought a fresh 20 pound turkey the night before and woke up early to fix that bird. I assumed that if the giblets are provided in a package stuffed in the turkey, the neck would be too. This was NOT the case. I had to rip that poor bird's neck out with my bare hands. Now I know that you want the package to say that both the giblets AND the neck are removed, unless you're into ripping the neck out. After that, it came time to prep it. We picked up the skin from the meat and rubbed butter all over the turkey. That was actually my favorite part, weird, I know. After the butter was well spread between the meat and the skin, we rubbed EVOO all over the outside of the bird. Then, we just sprinkled some salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme all over it. We baked it at 325 degrees for 5 hours. We tented it with tin foil for the first hour. Then after removing the tin foil, we let the oven do its thing. We basted it about 3 times, although this is really only need to add to the color of the turkey. After removing it from the oven, we let it rest for 30 minutes, then carved right in. It came out great! I was nervous and being a perfectionist was convinced I messed it up somehow, but everyone loved it!

To make the day even better, all of our friends brought along delicious apps and side dishes. We had garlic mashed potatoes, scalloped corn, stuffing, and homemade cranberry sauce just to name a few! It was an amazing day with close friends and good food. The best way to kick off the holiday season! Here's some pictures:

A funny "family" picture:


A nice one:


Moira trying to eat the turkey! In the background check out Russ's homemade cranberry sauce and my KitchenAid:


Doug and I with our turkey!