Red Velvet Cupcakes

Holy Red Velvet. #cupcake #foodporn pic.twitter.com/OVQCCOkefo
— alice.RICHES.snow (@aliceRICHESsnow) February 16, 2014

Honey, I shrunk the cupcakes...

Mini-cupcakes, absolutely one of my favorite things.  I've been working on fairly decadent cupcakes recently and I find that it might be best for all involved if I make them smaller.  Plus, they are just so much cuter!

Because I had been going a little crazy with the cupcake baking - and I don't like to waste anything - I had some extra Raspberry Triple Cream Frosting, enough ingredients to make Lemon Drop Frosting, and an extreme need to figure out how to make Orange Chocolate Frosting after making a batch of the Orange Chocolate Scones.

Once again I used cream cheese as my base for this frosting.  I wasn't sure at first but it provided a nice tang and compliment to the orange flavor.  Simply a combination of powdered sugar, dutch cocoa (I prefer Ghirardelli), butter, cream cheese, milk & orange juice.
Chocolate sprinkles add a nice touch and texture to these cupcakes!

I changed the Lemon Drop frosting a bit and added lemon zest to enhance the lemon flavor!  These cupcakes were a last minute treat for a girls night in...basically, a baking friend is a good friend.

Raspberry Triple Cream Cupcakes

Okay, well yum.  Really the only way to describe these cupcakes.  I made these cupcakes for a bridal shower and I went raspberry because it just seemed so delicate and pretty! Everything a bridal shower should be...bridal shower, not bachelorette ;)

It didn't hurt that raspberries were on sale at my favorite local spot either!  Here is a recipe similar to what I did.  As you may know by now, I use cream cheese as a base for most of my frostings, I really like the way it holds shape and provides a tangy background.  Basically, these cupcakes were dubbed triple cream because they include, butter and a double-dose of cream cheese, uh Yum!

So this is what happens when you are delinquent on your blog...you can't remember the recipe! I'm pretty sure I chicken scratched it down somewhere whilst in the middle of creating some of the best cupcakes ever - I mean truly some of the best frosting I have made to date.
I do remember that I used a cake box mix due to the lack of flour in the house at the time.  I have since gone through my trusty supply of boxed cake mix and now I ONLY bake from scratch using King Arthur Flour.  If I'm going to perfect my recipes the only way to do it is from the basics. 
Frosting: cream cheese, butter, pwd. sugar, and a raspberry goodness of some kind or another.  Experiment on your own, but make sure to add powder sugar slowly and by the cup-full, you'll end up fighting for the right consistency and flavor if you're not careful.


I'm still getting a hang of just how much batter to put in my cupcake pans - it really seems different with each kind of cake!  You can see with the photo on the left that there is a slight brown to the top of the cupcake, that comes from the cupcake overflowing onto the top of the pan and cooking at a higher temp.  My current ice cream scoop is not an exact science because it tends to build up batter under the scraping mechanism, making it difficult to continue with exact proportions in the pan.  Come to think of it, I have a small and a large scoop, it might be time to try another size.  


Basically the vanilla cake and decadent frosting are an excellent pair.  I'm a sucker for garnishes, plus I had extra raspberries.... :)

Enjoy!