Deliciousness Part 1...

So in addition to my day job, I bake goodies for people.  Eventually, hopefully, I will be able to to do that as my full time job.  It is my passion in life and I never want to stop.  A friend of mine asked me if I would make her some red velvet cupcakes for her hubby for Valentine's Day.  To be honest, any excuse to make red velvet anything is fine by me!  She is one of those people who says she can cook, but who can't bake to save her life.  Now it's statements like that I just don't understand.  Maybe I don't understand because it comes so easy and naturally to me.  I think it freaks people out because it is an exact science, and if you mess just one thing up it will mess the whole thing up.  So because of that, I think people get nervous and just don't try.  But seriously, it is as easy as following directions.  If you can read and follow directions then I truly believe that anyone can bake.  Stick with me and I'll give you some more tricks to set you up for success!

So my red velvet cupcakes, I will admit, the recipe is not my own.  I do have many recipes that I have taken from places combined them with other recipes and made them my own.  However, I have not worked on a red velvet recipe as of yet.  I have to say that Martha Stewart has my favorite recipe and for now, I am just fine with that.  So whenever you are starting a recipe you obviously want to make sure that you have all of your ingredients.  So read through your recipe from start to finish and make sure that you have all the ingredients, and the time to do it.  Some recipes call for you to chill things for a couple hours/overnight.  Next, preheat your oven and prep your pans.  I can't tell you how many times I forget to preheat the oven then I'm waiting with batter or cookie dough!  Then you want to set up all your ingredients so they are handy and on the counter so you can just dump things in the bowl and go.  As you're mixing things in be aware in the recipe for mixing times.  Sometimes recipes have you mixing things together for several minutes.  Always scrape down the sides of your bowl!  There is often ingredients stuck to the sides that are not properly mixed in.  Then plop your batter into your pans, bake and wait for the magic to happen!  So here I go...

First I measured out my dry ingredients and put them into a bowl.  Now even though some recipes call for you to sift ingredients, I don't always do that.  The recipe will call for that so that you lighten the flour and make sure that no rouge particles end up in your cake.  Now the only time I will ALWAYS sift/wisk dry ingredients is when I am adding cocoa powder because it has a tendency to clump, and you don't want pockets of cocoa powder in your cake.  Also make sure you measure your dry ingredients with your dry measuring cups and your wet ingredients with measuring cups like the one above.

So, the sugar and oil go in the mixer, mixed until combined.  Add in the eggs and beat each in until incorporated.  Next is where the magic happens...

Add in your red food coloring.  Now I agree with Martha on this one, I like to use the gel food coloring.  Most of the time the colors are more intense then the liquid.  Also sometimes I find that you have to add so much of the liquid that it could potentially change the consistency of your mix.  You also see of to the side in that picture one of my all time favorite ingredients.  Vanilla extract, but not just any vanilla extract, Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract.  It's the best, but I'll leave that for another day.

Next go the dry ingredients, adding in 3 additions alternating with buttermilk.  This is important, you don't want to add all the dry ingredients at once because the batter will not be able to absorb it all at once.  Remember, scrape scrape scrape!  When you have a nice homogeneous mixture pour/scoop into your prepared pan

Doesn't it just look divine?!  I could eat the whole bowl of batter raw!  It is really awful, I am a huge batter eater.  But you have to taste everything before you bake it so you know it tastes good!  Then pop them in the oven for about 20 min or so and viola!

Red velvet heaven!  They are moist and delicious with just a hint of chocolate deliciousness.  Now because I don't need them for a couple days I will pop them in the freezer once they cool and they'll be fresh and ready when I need them.  Next up is the frosting which everyone knows is the best part of a cupcake.  Cupcakes are just a vehicle for loads of frosting!  Start baking and happy cooking!  <3