Saturday, February 9, 2013

Red Hot Velvets!

                Looking to spice up your Valentine’s Day? No, really, I mean spice it up. I’ve put a surprising twist to red velvet cupcakes!

                In my first post, I mentioned that I hadn’t yet perfected my cupcake recipe. For this week, I focused on creating something for the holiday coming up instead of working on my recipes. For my batter, I used the Duncan Hines red velvet cake mix. Anytime I’m pressed for time and not able to make my own batter, Duncan Hines is my go to. I mixed the ingredients according to the package and then separated them into two different bowls. I added cinnamon into one and paprika into the other. The great thing about boxed cake mix is that you can add any spice you like to it which will make it your own and give a more homemade feel to your cakes or cupcakes.

For the cupcake molds, I swear by the foil baking cups. When eating a cupcake and peeling that papery baking cup off, the cake will stick to the baking cup and become crumbly. When using the foil baking cups, spray them with Baker’s Joy and this will get rid of that problem. Another bonus to those baking cups is you don’t even have to have a cupcake pan! They will hold their shape even if you put them in a shallow baking pan.

                 Red velvet cupcakes are usually topped with cream cheese icing. I decided to keep this classic combo. I have a cream cheese icing recipe that I’ve used for a few years now and I use it each time. When icing my cupcakes, I like to pile my icing into a plastic baggie. I let out all the air and cut off a bottom corner. This is an easy way for your cupcakes to have a professional appearance and the best part; you can just throw it away! I like to take the icing and just swirl it on top. However, it’s fun to decorate them after icing them. One of my favorite ways to top cupcakes is with chocolate molds! For this occasion, I topped them with chocolate hearts.

 
 

 
           This was an interesting experiment; however, I will admit that it was a success! The paprika added just enough flavor where you could taste a hint without being overwhelmed. The cinnamon was a fantastic match with the red velvet. I would have liked to have used a spice with heat but I wanted to see how these spices worked with the red velvet flavor first. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at how these turned out!


-KaitTheCreator

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