Thursday, February 13, 2014

Sweet Valentine Dessert

My current favorite dessert is Red Velvet anything - yogurt at Yogurtland, in a blizzard at Dairy Queen or cake heaped with cream cheese frosting.  I prefer at least a 50-50 ratio of cake to frosting to satisfy my sweet tooth.

In January 2015 our decorating theme for the Honduran Women's Bible Conference will be hearts.  February is the perfect month to practice with heart desserts which brought me to Red Velvet cupcakes today.

My co-leader had found some darling cupcake cups - no cupcake pan needed - and I needed to try them out.  How to bake with them, how full to fill them, how many can one box of cake mix make and of course, how to frost them.  I found the answers:
  • A jelly roll pan will hold 35 of these self-supporting cupcake cups.
  • They do not change color when baked as do some of the wrappers due to the color of the cake batter.
  • Fill them with about 1/3 C of batter.
  • One box made 22 unevenly sized cupcakes.  Next time, plan on 16-18.
  • I used Duncan Hines and have been happy with the results.
  • And then the frosting.  It is to "die for!"

I wish I had recorded where I found this recipe so that I could give credit to them.

2 8oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 sticks or 1 C butter also at room temperature
1 lb. powdered sugar (3 3/4 C)
2-3 T heavy cream (I had used fat-free milk)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract

Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add the rest of the ingredients and continue beating until smooth and slightly fluffy.  My didn't "fluff" because I didn't have cream on hand.

Use a large frosting bag and pipe the frosting on in a snail-fashion starting on the outside.  Place a candy heart on top.

Bag at least 12", tip 5FT (giant)

I should probably add that I have made this recipe from scratch with good success, but I have also found that it's cheaper to buy a box of mix than a bottle of red food coloring. 

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