Blue Velvet Cupcakes

I first found this recipe from an AMAZING baking blog, Sprinklebakes. I highly suggest you check it out and feel inferior that you will never be able to do half of those recipes. I know I do but it's okay because there are some fantastic recipes on there.

I was curious about blue velvet as opposed to red velvet and decided to attempt them for a Christmas treat because we had a pathetic lack-of-winter here in Minnesota. We were on track to have a brown Christmas and I decided to make the blue velvet cupcakes in hopes that it would magically snow. It did not snow but the cupcakes turned out great.

Cake recipe:  

2 cups sugar
2 sticks butter, softened. (I would highly suggest using real butter. Margarine does make the cupcakes taste a little different and, in my opinion, not as delicious)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon Wilton royal blue gel food coloring
1 small dab Wilton violet gel food coloring
2 1/2 cups cake flour (I used all-purpose flour and it worked great)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (I used skim milk and again, it worked great)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare cupcake pan(s) with paper liners.

Cake:
In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter, mix until light and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time (I always put both in at the same...I'm all about making things as easy as possible!) and mix well. In a small bowl, mix cocoa and food colorings together to form a paste. It might take a little bit of stirring to get the food coloring and cocoa powder to mix but don't give up hope. They do love each other and will mix together, even if it takes a few minutes.  Add the cocoa powder/food coloring paste to sugar mixture; mix well. Sift together flour and salt. Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternating with the milk. Blend in vanilla. In a small bowl, combine baking soda and vinegar and add to mixture and blend well.

Pour batter into cupcake papers. Batter will be a little thick and that's okay! Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese, softened (16 ounces)
2 sticks butter, softened (again, I suggest using real butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar (I used un-sifted powdered sugar... and it was delicious)

In a large, and I do mean LARGE, mixing bowl beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat on low speed until incorporated into the mixture. Once the powdered sugar is mixed in well enough not to go flying all over the kitchen, beat the mixture on high until frosting is light and fluffy.

Frost and decorate the cooled cupcakes as you wish. I would suggest using some kind of tip and piping the frosting on. The frosting recipe makes about double what you need in order to adequately frost the cupcakes. Or you could always double the cupcake recipe and then the frosting recipe will be just about right.

These cupcakes were amazing. Normally something goes wrong when I bake but nothing went wrong with these except for too much frosting and I don't really consider that bad. It was very good and wanted to eat it by the spoonful. I may have had one or two spoonfuls but shhhhh. Nobody needs to know.

I did learn a couple things from this baking experience:
1. I'm never going to use canned cream cheese frosting again.
2. I want to make different-colored velvet cupcakes for all kinds of occasions. Green velvet for St. Patty's Day, pink velvet for a girl's baby shower, black and orange velvet for Halloween, purple velvet for the heck of it, and the list goes on and on. Like the song that never ends.

I do believe, my dear Watson, that this is the first recipe to go into the fire-proof box. Until next time...

Fire away!