Red Velvet Cupcakes

I made these red velvet cupcakes for a women's conference at our church. My mom was in charge of hosting a table, and so she picked out the colors and decor for the lunch and asked me to make a dessert. I love the colors she chose, they are so spring-y! I used Justin's grandmother's recipe to make the cupcakes and the cream cheese frosting from scratch! I do not think I can ever have boxed cake again after having these. After frosting the cupcakes I decided they needed some color as well, so I used fondant to create the flowers on top of the cupcakes. 

Red Velvet Cake

(or cupcakes)

Ingredients for cake:

2 1/2 cups sifted flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cocoa

1 cup butter milk

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 tsp vinegar

2 eggs

1 oz red color

Ingredients for Frosting:

1 stick butter

8oz creme cheese

1 pound (or 3 cups) conf. sugar

1 cup pecans

1/2 tsp vanilla

Cake:

*Preheat oven to 325 degrees

1. Combine all dry ingredients and whisk together.

2. Combine all wet ingredients and mix together.

3. Add the WET ingredients to the DRY ingredients. (I'm used to adding the dry ingredients to the wet ones, so I had to make sure it did it right!)

4. Mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes and then pour into greased pans. Lightly drop the pan a few times on the counter to get out all the air bubbles from the batter. 

5. Bake for 25 mins, or until you are able to pass the toothpick test.

Frosting:

1. Mix together butter, cream cheese, and sugar.

2. Add vanilla and mix well.

3. Enjoy heaven on a spoon.

*Justin's sister told me that it was a good idea to double the frosting recipe, and boy was she right! This is hands down the best cream cheese frosting I have ever had.

Cake Bites

For Valentines Day I made cake bites for my husband. My friend Bethany sent me a recipe from a pretty neat website, however I tweaked it a little, cuz I'm picky about my sweets. I think they turned out really good, however I found out that I need to work on my drizzle skills... still yummy though!

Cake Bites

Ingredients: 

• 1 box of cake mix (I used chocolate, baked in 2 9 inch pans)

• 1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)

• 12 oz of milk chocolate (and/or white chocolate for variety)

• wax paper

Directions:

1. After you bake the cake, let it cool completely, crumble into large bowl.

2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It's easier to use your hands, messy though)

3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet.
4. Put in the freezer for 3 hours (overnight for best results).

5. Double boil to melt the chocolate.

6. It's easiest to spoon the chocolate onto the frozen cake balls so they don't start to fall apart in the melted chocolate. Spread the chocolate evenly over all of the balls and place in the fridge for half an hour.

7. You can decorate the cake bites by melting white chocolate chips (also using the double boil method) and then carefully spoon into a zip lock bag and snip a small corner. Drizzle/design the bites freely. 

8. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.