Martha Stewart’s Red Velvet Cupcakes

I have a cupcake order coming up next month for a baby shower, and they’ve requested red velvet cupcakes, so I am testing out red velvet cupcake recipes in the next few weeks to find the very best one. 

Today I used Martha Stewart’s Red Velvet Cupcake recipe pretty much exactly as it was. This is a great cupcake. The flavor is good, the cupcake is moist, and it pairs beautifully with a basic cream cheese frosting (I used Martha’s Cream Cheese Frosting, though I added an extra splash of vanilla). The cupcake did not turn out very red, so I would definitely bump that up if you want a very red cupcake. Also, despite their great flavor, these did not dome up well, which was disappointing. Lastly, if I made them again, I would try decreasing the oil a tiny bit to see if the wrappers might be a bit less greasy, though I wouldn’t want to lose any of the terrific moistness.

Overall, these cupcakes are great; no one will be disappointed to eat one.  

Do you have a perfect red velvet cupcake recipe? Share it with me and I may feature it on the blog! 

Ingedients (Red Velvet Cupcakes)

2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon red gel-paste food color
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Directions (Red Velvet Cupcakes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cake flour, cocoa, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in food color and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and whisking well after each. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will foam); add mixture to the batter, and mix on medium speed 10 seconds.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting.

Cook’s Note

Gel-paste food color is much more concentrated than the supermarket liquid variety; if you substitute the liquid, you may need to add an entire bottle (1.5 ounces) to achieve the desired shade.

Ingredients (Cream Cheese Frosting)

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound (4 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions (Cream Cheese Frosting)

Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla; mix until smooth.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Coffee Frosting

One of the symptoms of fibromyalgia is that a person has sleep disturbances, and boy, do I ever. Just last night I had trouble sleeping, and many, many nights of the last 10 years or so, I’ve had trouble sleeping. Some nights, I toss and turn in bed. Other nights, I do odd things, like climb out of bed and bake cookies.

This recipe has been sitting in queue to be posted since May, but I’m pretty sure that the morning that I made these, I’d been up most of the night, and I decided on a whim that it was time to bake. Charlie eventually woke up and found me frosting these beauties. Perhaps the next time I bake in the early morning, I should make something like muffins or cinnamon rolls!

I adapted this recipe from Bakingdom, who had the brilliant idea to ice oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with coffee frosting, but I made a few changes, like using half whole wheat flour, adding a bit of molasses, bumping up the cinnamon, and adding some other spices. Also, for the frosting, I don’t keep instant coffee in the house, so instead I invested in a coffee flavored extract recently, so I swapped that out.

Note: I divided the batch and made some without frosting and just with raisins, which is a great way to get the sophisticated, frosted coffee cookies and something simpler that kids will enjoy out of one batch.

Just two days left to win a gift certificate to my new Etsy shop!

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup molasses
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick oats

1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup raisins

Frosting:
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coffee flavored extract (or 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee or finely ground espresso powder)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt; set aside

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the molasses, brown sugar, and white sugar and beat until well combined. Beat in the egg until just combined, then stir in the vanilla. Scrape the bowl. Add the flour mixture in a few batches, mixing well between each one. Scrape the bowl, then stir in the oatmeal until well combined. Divide the batter if desired. Stir the chocolate chips into one bowl and the raisins into another.

Place level one tablespoon mounds of dough on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges turn golden brown. Transfer to a wire cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting… If using instant coffee, heat the milk until hot (microwave is easiest, but it can be done on the stovetop as well), add the coffee and steep for 5 to 10 minutes. Filter the coffee if there are any grounds left. Chill until at least room temperature (about 15 minutes). If using the coffee flavored extract, do not heat the milk – simply combine the coffee extract and the milk.

In a medium bowl, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add half of the sugar and beat until well combined (the mixture may be a little dry). Stir in the vanilla and half of the coffee milk until combined. Add the remaining sugar, beating the mixture until light and fluffy. Stir in the remaining coffee milk, and beat until thoroughly combined. Add more extract or sugar as necessary.

Carrot Cake with Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

Charlie’s birthday was last Sunday, but Sunday, we were at the tail end of a 30+ hour train ride from New Orleans back to New York. Our trip was delayed a bit because of the tornado in Alabama. We actually rode right through Tuscaloosa, AL, and the damage was just incredible. It was super sad and almost unbelievable to just see huge trees absolutely snapped in half. If you’d like to help the folks out in Alabama, one way you can do it is by texting FOOD to 27722 to donate $10 to the West Alabama Food Bank.

Now that we’re back in New York, and I’ve spend the week resting and doing laundry and other mundane stuff, it’s time to catch up on Charlie’s birthday. We had about four pounds of carrots from our last winter CSA delivery, so a carrot cake was certainly in order.

As usual, when making this recipe, I looked at a whole bunch of different carrot cake recipes and then mishmoshed them together, though I’d say the one that was the closest to what I was looking for was over at The Joy of Baking. I still made a bunch of changes, including reducing the amount of raisins and nuts and pineapple and making a spicier cake, since those are things that (if I recall correctly!) I’ve heard Charlie say he prefers in a carrot cake.

Charlie’s mom was around when I was baking this cake, and I let her taste the batter. She made a noise of exclamation. “What did you put in this?” she demanded. “It’s going to smell so good,” she said. She went to the kitchen window and started to open the window, then looked back at me. “That way the neighbors can smell it and be jealous,” she smiled.

Usually when I bake, it’s all about the flavor and nothing about the presentation. Friday night, though, I took a nap while the cake was cooling, then got a second wind and baked a whole second cake! I decided to really spend some time decorating the carrot cake while the chocolate chip cake was in the oven. The decorating didn’t come out perfectly, since it got to be two in the morning, I was getting sleepy, and the sequence that I did certain things in was not necessarily the most efficient, but it came out pretty darn nice.

I almost never write on cakes [the last time I did was probably last year's super silly birthday cake for myself, when I couldn't even find the tip for writing] so I was really, really happy with how the script came out. I took a half dozen semesters of typography in college, so I would have been gutted if my cake lettering was awful.

I think I’m getting the hang of this baking thing. *wink*

Photo of the cake topped with drunk raisins, drunk pineapple, and drunk ginger.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups oil
4 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 pound carrots, shredded (about 3 1/2 cups shredded, or about a dozen small carrots)
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
2 tablespoons finely chopped pineapple (optional)
a few tablespoons of flavorful bourbon (I used Woodford Reserve)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon cardamom

Ingredients: Cream Cheese Frosting
(sorry, I just kind of flung things into the mixer on this one!)

2 bricks of cream cheese
3/4 stick of butter
2 cups (or more, according to taste) confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons bourbon (I used Woodford Reserve)
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
toasted coconut (for garnish)

Directions

Carrot Cake: Several hours before beginning, make the “drunk raisins.” I learned this tip from a new friend when we were out in New Orleans – thanks, Darnell! Place the raisins and ginger (and pineapple, if desired) in a small bowl. Add a small amount of bourbon – enough so that the fruit is covered. Let it soak for at least an hour, preferably more. Reserve a few tablespoons of this mixture for the decorating step.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Spray two 9″ cake pans.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom.

In bowl of a stand mixer mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs until frothy (about 1 minute). Gradually add the sugar and beat until the batter is thick and light colored (about 3 – 4 minutes). Add the oil in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. With a large rubber spatula fold in the grated carrots, drunk raisins (don’t forget to reserve some!), and chopped nuts. Evenly divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 5 -10 minutes invert the cakes onto the wire rack and then cool completely before frosting.

To assemble: place one cake layer onto your serving plate. Spread with about half the frosting. Sprinkle nuts, ginger and raisins if desired. Gently place the other cake onto the frosting and spread the rest of the frosting over the top of the cake. If desired, garnish with toasted coconut around the sides of the cake. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

Note about decorating: If you’re like me, and you prefer a much less sweet frosting, your frosting won’t be as stiff. What I did was frost the cake with the thinner icing, then, for the remaining 1/3 or so of the frosting, I added an extra cup or two of confectioners’ sugar. That way, the frosting was stiff enough to pipe the letters and the edge, but the entire cake wasn’t sickeningly sweet.

Tea Tasting: Whisky Cake

Thanks to Traczie for the great photos of the tea party!

I have several books from this really cute series of Favourite Recipes that cost about $2 each on Amazon, and they feature recipes from various parts of the UK. The recipe that I’m using today is from the Scottish Teatime Recipes book.

I made this for the Tea Tasting we had last month. Instead of one big cake, I made it in mini muffin tins, which were a great size, but the brown sugar in the recipe really caramalized onto even my awesome nonstick pan, making them a little hard to get out. I also made a couple of mini rounds, which would probably be a perfect personal cake size.

I made a few changes, and you can play with the ratio of the icing until it suits you, but these were quite popular and I’ll likely make a variation of them again.

Ingredients: Cake

3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup soft brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup whisky (I used Jameson)
zest of 1 orange

Ingredients: Icing

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup honey
juice of 1 orange
toasted sliced almonds to decorate (optional)
1 tablespoon whisky (I used Jameson)
orange extract to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 375*F. Grease mini muffin tins (or two 7″ sandwich tins).

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl. Add the orange zest. Beat in the eggs one at a time and whisk until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Sift in about half the flour and add the whisky. Fold into the mixture. Sift in the remaining flour and fold in.

Distribute the mixture into the tins. Bake for 12-15 minutes for mini muffin tins, 20-25 minutes for sandwich tins, until light golden. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing, put the butter into a mixing bowl. Add the honey, whisky, orange extract, and the orange juice. Sift in the icing sugar slowly and work the mixture gradually until the ingredients are combined. When it reaches the desired consistency, spread over the cakes.

Cardamom Lime Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Yes, I admit it. I bake my own birthday cakes. (I should probably mention that I turned 26 this year, not 6, right?)

For some reason everyone always has a problem with this right up until they lift their forks up to their mouths, and then… well, then they sigh a little, and admit, “You’re right, you’re a baker, no one else here could have made this,” or some similar praise that puts me up on a pedestal.

I’m not a huge cake eater. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I prefer ice cream above all other sweets, but I’d take a good cookie over cake. But, birthdays are birthdays, and for birthdays, there is cake. (If you’re wondering about my ridiculous decorations… I felt weird telling myself “Happy Birthday!” so instead I declared, “I Was Born!”)

My favorite cake is usually the classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting. When I go to a cupcake shop, like Billy’s Bakery on 9th Ave, that’s what I’ll get, perfectly topped with just a few adorable sprinkles. I wanted to make something nostalgic, but also something a bit more refined, something that showcased how I’d grown in the way that I use flavors. I started thinking about cardamom, with just a bit of lime zest… and finally a chocolate cream cheese frosting to match the tang of the lime.

I don’t bake regular old cakes very frequently, and I still don’t have a go-to recipe for yellow cake. I’ve tried Wilton’s, I’ve tried Betty Crocker’s, I’ve tried some random chick from the internet’s. This time, I tried the “Fluffy Yellow Cake” from America’s Test Kitchen. It was decent, but still not exactly what I was looking for, and it would have been far too sweet had I not (as always) reduced the sugar.

Another thing to note about me is that I almost never bake cakes that require separating eggs. It usually ends up being wasteful around here, but since I had plans for a Lemon Blueberry Chiffon Cake with a Lavender Glaze, my eggs actually worked out!

Cardamom Lime Cake – Ingredients

2 1/2 cups cake flour, plus extra for dusting pans
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup sugar
10 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
1 cup milk, room temperature
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cardamom
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon lime zest
6 large egg yolks, room temperature
3 large egg whites, room temperature

Cardamom Lime Cake – Directions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a giant round cake pan if you’re going to make the ridiculous thing that I did, otherwise, this will make two 9″ pans. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar together in large bowl. In medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, milk, oil, vanilla, and yolks.

In clean bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites at medium-high speed until foamy, about 30 seconds. Continue to beat until stiff peaks just form, 30 to 60 seconds (whites should hold peak but mixture should appear moist). Transfer to bowl and set aside.

Add flour mixture to now-empty mixing bowl fitted with whisk attachment. With mixer running at low speed, gradually pour in butter mixture and mix until almost incorporated (a few streaks of dry flour will remain), about 15 seconds. Stop mixer and scrape whisk and sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium-low speed and beat until smooth and fully incorporated, 10 to 15 seconds.

Using rubber spatula, stir 1/3 of whites into batter to lighten, then add remaining whites and gently fold into batter until no white streaks remain. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans. Lightly tap pans against counter 2 or 3 times to dislodge any large air bubbles.

Bake until cake layers begin to pull away from sides of pans and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen cakes from sides of pans with small knife, then invert onto greased wire rack. Invert cakes again and cool completely on rack, about 1 1/2 hours.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting – Ingredients

Well, Bo woke up before I did on the day of the party, so he got started on the frosting. I can’t be sure exactly what ratios were used, only that it was based off of my Maple Cream Cheese Frosting recipe that he found on here, haha, and that when I did wake up, I kept saying, “I want a darker chocolate.”

So, I’m guessing that it was something like…

1 stick unsalted butter
8 oz cream cheese
1/2-3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup confectioners sugar

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting – Directions

Make someone else get up earlier than you on the day of your party. Have them dump all the ingredients in the stand mixer and have at it until smooth. If desired, add more confectioners sugar or more cocoa powder. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before frosting.

Lemon Sponge Bundt with Coconut Frosting

Obviously, I’ve been wanting to get a lot of use out of my gorgeous bundt pan that Charlie got me for our anniversary. This weekend was Memorial Day, and we had a BBQ with a bunch of guests. The ten-cup capacity that’s usually far too much for us was gone in a matter of minutes.

I’ve never made a sponge cake before. It could have stood to be a bit spongier, but I expected this because of the recipe I used. As was explained the Joy of Baking website, most sponge cakes either get their texture and moisture from extra sugar or a soaking syrup. Since I don’t like extremely sweet things, the first option was out. Since we had limited ingredients and the frosting was a last minute addition, I didn’t plan for a soaking syrup, either. So, I used a recipe that had slightly different ingredients than what most of the sponge recipes I found called for.

The original recipe is here, though, as usual, I made a few changes. My recipe is below. For the top, my friend Bo whipped up this recipe, cut in half, also with a few changes explained below.

Lemon Sponge Cake

Ingredients (Cake)

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 1/4 cups evaporated cane sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 cup cold water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
7 eggs, separated
Juice of two lemons
Grated zest of 2 lemons
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions (Cake)

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease two 9 inch round cake pans or one 10-inch tube pan and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter, egg yolks, 3/4 cup cold water, lemon juice and zest and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes; set aside.

In a separate large bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg yolk mixture into egg whites until completely blended. DO NOT stir or beat the mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40 to 60, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes, then loosen sides gently and invert cake onto a rack to cool.

Wait until cake has cooled completely to frost.

Ingredients (Frosting)

*Note: If making a layer cake, you’ll want to double this back to the original yield.

1/4 c. milk
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. flour
1/2 cup of coconut, plus more for garnish
One handful of your choice of berries, trimmed (optional)

Directions (Frosting)
In small saucepan cook the milk and flour until thick and smooth. Stir with wooden spoon constantly. Set aside to cool. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar together using electric mixer. Beat well until no longer grainy. Add cooked flour mixture. Beat until consistency of whipped cream. Add vanilla and stir. Add 1/2 cup coconut and stir, reserving some for garnish. Spread on cooled cake. Top with more coconut and berries, if desired.