red velvet cupcakes

Birthdays = cake.

I failed at baking for people on their birthdays after I said I would try to do that more, so after weeks of baking tons of cookies, I finally busted out the cupcake tin again.

Daniel’s been bugging me to bake him red velvet cupcakes for the past three years and for some reason I always forget. Sophomore year I think I was busy. Junior year I was in Hong Kong. So FINALLY, I baked him some red velvet cupcakes for his birthday.

ooooo look at how red it is.

So, if you bug me enough about something, three years, voila. You get what you wish for.

I didn’t get any good pictures because I was in a rush. These two are from my iPhone. But I got one shot of the leftover ugly failed cupcakes. Hopefully everyone liked them and weren’t just lying to me because I didn’t even taste them until the day after.

these are the rejects.

Speed baking results!! Now back to studying for finals. Maybe more baking next week.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Yield: 24 cupcakes
adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons red food coloring mixed with 3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Turn mixer to high and add the eggs. Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl mix together cocoa, vanilla and red food coloring to make a thick paste. Add to the batter, mixing thoroughly until completely combined. You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bottom of the bowl, making sure that all the batter gets color.

Turn mixer to low and slowly add half of the buttermilk. Add half of the flour and salt and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour. Beat on high until smooth.

Turn mixer to low and add baking soda and white vinegar. Turn to high and beat a few more minutes.

Spoon batter into prepared cake pans and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center cupcake comes out clean.

Let rest in the pan for 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar. Spread over warm rolls. Refrigerate leftover frosting. Or freeze it and eat it with a spoon later. :)

st. valentine’s day

The big D-Day!
Not really though.

I really have to say, one of the things I love most about Valentine’s Day is hearing what the single people have to say. More in particular the single ladies I guess, because I don’t think boys care about Valentine’s Day. It’s just a money suck for them. Haha.

But here are some of my favorite texts and FB status updates:

“Omgsh so at a table next to me a guy gave this girl a single rose and she was giggling nonstop. Just when I was about to smack her in my imagination, the guy shushed her. So conclusion: all is well.”

“The best part of my day was the textbook, meeting up for a group project, homework, and imagining Jason Mraz was singing prettiest friend to me while eating dark chocolate.”

“Happy Overrated Day!”

“All the girls on campus are smiling at their phones. Lame.”

“If I have a Valentine next year, can someone make sure I don’t upload pictures of stupid flowers or bears all over Facebook? I understand uploading something that is actually interesting, but no one cares that OOOOH you got stupid flowers that look like every other flower that grows on the ground! Or a stupid box of chocolates that looks like every other box of chocolates out there!” (EFFING LOL)

I spent my Valentine’s Day delivering cookies. I haven’t baked in a while, so it was particularly exhausting yesterday. I had to bake cookies for somebody because I lost a bet I made last year that I totally forgot about. -____________- I hate losing!!!!

And being the sore loser that I am, I made some ugly cookies.

Snickerdoodles.

No chocolate. No pink. No red. No heart shapes.

Suck. On. That.

Just cinnamon, sugar, and butter.

They’re a little ugly, but hopefully you can forgive their unsightly appearance.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Snickerdoodles

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.

Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.