Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

My good friend Angie brought me a dozen doughnuts to the hospital when I had Gabriel and Cassidy. I called her a couple of months ago to let her know I wanted to return the favor with cupcakes when she had her sweet new little baby. She requested red velvet piled high with delicious cream cheese frosting.

My red velvet cake recipe is a family recipe passed down from Cassidy's Great Mam-ma, so I won't be sharing it. Sorry! The cream cheese frosting is a recipe I just made up by throwing stuff in a bowl. It's just butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. It would be really delicious to eat a big bowl of it by the spoonful while relaxing in a candlelit bath. I would never do that, though. That's just a fantasy of someone who's been on a diet for a really long time!

These cupcakes were really good. However, cupcakes with cream cheese frosting is not how I grew up eating red velvet cake. It's meant to be in a 3-layer cake layered with this amazing cooked butter icing (also a secret family recipe). The cooked butter icing is not thick enough to be piped onto a cupcake, though, and my sweet friend asked for cream cheese frosting. She had a baby. She should get whatever she wants.

 Combining cocoa and red food coloring

 Combining shortening and sugar

 Adding the red cocoa mixture

 Mixing

 Delicious red chocolate buttermilk cake batter

 The cupcakes are out of the oven!

 

 Piped with cream cheese frosting

A little creativity . . . baked some cupcakes right inside these baby food jars,

piped the frosting in, screwed on the lid, and tied a blue ribbon for

the new little baby boy.

Cassidy takes a taste.

It's good! It's good!

 

 "Get in my belly!"

 

Mommy and Cassidy snuggle baby Ryland

while his mommy has a cupcake.

Cassidy's Cream Cheese Frosting

2 blocks cream cheese

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

6 cups powdered sugar (more or less depending on desired consistency)

The Battle of the Cupcake

Cassidy participated in her first cupcake competition at the 2012 Vanderburgh County 4-H Fair in Evansville, IN. It was the very first "Battle of the Cupcake." Cupcakes and frosting were to be premade and brought in as well as a display with no specified theme. The cupcakes needed to be frosted, decorated, and arranged in the display in less than one hour. We decided to do the chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter and marshmallow buttercream frosting since we knew it was so incredibly delicious and likely flavors that most would enjoy. We also thought we needed to add a filling to the cupcakes since that is very popular these days.

Well, we tried our best . . .

 Cassidy is cute as a cupcake and ready for some fun!

 Our display: pictures of Cassidy baking cupcakes 

with the cupcakes arranged on a bottle drying rack.

 Chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate buttercream filling,

topped with peanut butter, swirled with marshmallow buttercream

frosting, and topped with a fondant baby bottle.

 

Mommy made these fondant baby bottles.

 Baby bottle cupcakes

 Mommy and Cassidy are always having fun!

We didn't get a ribbon, but who cares when you've got a kid this cute?

So, here's what happened. The judges' comments were that our cupcakes were "Oh, so good!" BUT, it was really hot in the building we were in, and our buttercream melted right off the cupcakes. I know! I'm just like the bakers on Cupcake Wars who crumble under the pressure of stiff competition. I was so embarrassed! I knew they tasted good, but there was no way I could win with the frosting sliding off the cupcakes. I'm assuming the other competitors used a canned frosting or one made with shortening. I didn't want to do that, though. I say, "Go homemade or go home!" I was the only one that made fondant decorations, so I was really proud of myself. I think Cassidy was proud of me, too.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter and Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting

 Chocolate cupcakes with a Hershey's kiss baked into the center, topped with a layer of yummy peanut butter and swirled with marshmallow vanilla buttercream frosting. Biting into this cupcake, you get the oh-so-moist chocolate cake, followed by the marshmallowy sweetness of the vanilla buttercream frosting. Then, as your teeth close in on the cupcake, the thick and creamy peanut butter fills your mouth and takes the whole experience over the top. Finally, when you eat your way to the center, you finish with a slightly softened bite of chocolate from the Hershey's Kiss. Want one yet?

 

The wet ingredients come up to room temperature while Cassidy 

takes a power nap: skim milk (that's what we always have in the

fridge), grape jelly, mayonnaise, egg whites, and vanilla.

Then, we sifted the dry ingredients, blended them well, and combined them with the wet ingredients: white sugar, all-purpose flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

 

Hershey's chocolate Kisses and white chocolate Hugs

are baked into the center of the cupcakes. We just 

sat them on top of the batter, and the cake baked around them.

 

A peanut butter swirl makes them decadent.

 

Swirled with marshmallow vanilla buttercream and garnished with 

a peanut glazed in simple syrup.

Chocolate cupcakes with peanut

butter and marshmallow buttercream 

frosting.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup white sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 tsp baking soda

1 egg white

1 cup water or milk

2 TBSP grape jelly (room temp)

1 cup mayonnaise (room temp)

  2 tsp vanilla extract

 1/4 tsp salt

Marshmallow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

7 cups powdered sugar

2 sticks softened unsalted butter

7 TBSP milk

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 bag marshmallows, melted, cooled, and mixed into frosting

***A note to the reader: Cassidy Babycakes was unable to appear in this blog post or its photos. She was too busy GETTING INTO EVERYTHING!!!

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Cassidy ran across a recipe for "The Best Blueberry Muffins" in the July 2012 issue of Parents magazine. Her pal, Julie, just gave her two quarts of frozen blueberries, so Cassidy thought blueberry muffins would make the perfect babycakes (especially with her new personal challenge of eating anything and everything despite having no teeth). Cassidy's mommy wanted muffins that were nutritious enough to fuel her busy little baker through the day's adventures and low enough in calories so she could enjoy some herself. We tweaked the recipe a tiny bit. The results were delicious, nutritious, and diet friendly.

PARENTS Magazine's Recipe for "The Best Blueberry Muffins":
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup blueberries
170 calories per muffin

Cassidy's Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
5 oz vanilla Greek yogurt
2 egg whites
1 cup blueberries
110 calories per muffin

By substituting Greek yogurt in place of oil and leaving out the egg yolks, Cassidy saved 60 calories per muffin!  But, she didn't sacrifice any flavor or moistness. These muffins are delicious. The whole wheat flour has the same calorie content as all-purpose flour (100 calories per 1/4 cup). However, whole wheat flour has four grams of fiber per serving, and all-purpose flour has less than one gram of fiber per serving. One egg white only has 17 calories, but a whole egg has about 80 calories. Besides, egg yolks are drying. Using only egg whites lends to a moister cake. We replaced 1/3 cup oil (636 calories!) for a five ounce container of Greek yogurt (120 calories). One-third cup is only 2 1/2 ounces, but we wanted to make sure we had a moist cake. It was the right decision. The last time we substituted yogurt for oil ounce for ounce, our cupcakes were chewy and slightly crumbly. From now on, we'll use twice as much yogurt as oil when substituting.

This recipe makes one dozen muffins with the muffin cups filled all the way up, baked at 425 degrees for 17 minutes (right before you think they are done).  Then, we immediately removed them from the pan to prevent carry-over cooking.

 

The tiny baker gets out the mixer and measuring cups. 

 

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

 

Blueberry muffins and bananas for breakfast

 

No teeth required!

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Daddy likes yellow cake with chocolate frosting, but Cassidy wanted to bump it up a notch. For a Father's Day treat, she baked Chocolate Salted Caramel cupcakes. It's yellow cake with a Rolo baked in the center. Then, they are topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting, dipped in caramel sauce, and sprinkled with salt. Yummy!

 Cassidy combines the milk, eggs, and vanilla.

 She sifts the dry ingredients.

 Mommy's on a diet, so we tried something different.

We substituted 80 calories of Greek yogurt for 

1200 calories of butter. 

 We baked Rolos in the middle of the cupcakes.

 The cupcakes are baked. 

 

Stirring chocolate into the cream cheese frosting.

Her shirt says she's "Daddy's Little Cupcake!"

 The taste test

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcake

We used the recipe for All Occasion Downy Yellow Cake from a previous post, but we experimented with a few changes in order to lower the calories a bit. Instead of six egg yolks, we only used four, and instead of 12 tablespoons of butter (1200 calories!!!), we used a container of plain Greek yogurt (only 80 calories). The cream cheese frosting is Cassidy's own recipe. Here are the recipes:

 Yellow Cake

4 large egg yolks

1 cup milk (we used skim)

2 1/4 tsp vanilla

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 TBSP + 1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

5 oz contain plain Greek yogurt

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese, softened

2 tsp vanilla

4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

2 cups confectioner's sugar

 

Topping

caramel ice cream topping

Kosher salt

The concept of this cupcake was really delicious. However, the lower calorie substitutions did not go unnoticed. Substituting the Greek yogurt for the butter left the cake with a chewy texture. The cake was still moist because it was not overbaked, but the texture was not completely desirable. Perhaps more yogurt was needed. Cassidy plans to do some more experimenting with Greek Oikos yogurt because she and her mom are big fans. Also, the cake really wasn't yellow enough because of using only four egg yolks instead of six. Baking the Rolo in the middle didn't work at all. It didn't melt. It only became hard. Finally, the ideal salt for a salted caramel cupcake is sea salt. Cassidy used Kosher salt because that's what she had on hand. It tasted great but was lacking the pretty little crystals of salt on top. 

All in all, this cupcake just needs a do over. Stay tuned . . .

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Moist chocolate cupcakes filled with Smucker's strawberry jam, swirled with cream cheese buttercream frosting and topped with a chocolate covered strawberry. And, of course, there were sweet little babycakes to eat them up!

 

Chocolate cupcakes

 

Filled with Smucker's strawberry jam

Swirled with cream cheese buttercream

 

Piled high with frosting

 

Topped with a chocolate covered strawberry

 

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcake

 

Cassidy shares her cupcakes with friends.

 

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Cassidy Nicole, the Cupcake Princess

 

"I know I can get one of those!"

 

"Got it!"

 Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup white sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 tsp baking soda

1 cup water

2 TBSP grape jelly (room temp)

1 cup mayonnaise (room temp)

  2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

This is the same chocolate cupcake recipe that Cassidy shared in her previous post. However, she decided to experiment by adding one egg white to the batter. This helped the cupcake keep it's shape so it could be eaten by hand, as a cupcake should be. The cupcake was still incredibly moist. We pulled them out of the oven when they still appeared to be underdone. They even left a little batter on the knife. By the time they were cooled, though, they were completely cooked through thanks to carry-over cooking.

These cupcakes were so moist and yummy. They were beautiful to look at, too. The cream cheese buttercream frosting is Cassidy's own recipe. She will share the recipe in a future post once she gets it perfected.