Alice in Regularland |

For my friend Michele's 29h birthday (which she is NOT excited about at all I might add) I promised her cupcakes she we both have to work that day. So after much, much deliberation I decided at the last minute to make Red Velvet Cupcakes. Because I know she loves them and really, who doesn't love cream cheese icing.

At first I was going to go the cheater route and buy a box of red velvet mix but still home make the icing because I don't think the canned kinds are "cream cheesy" enough. But after a some research I learned there really is not a very good ready-to-go red velvet mix available so I did the next best thing and doctored up a cake mix.

I also knew that I wanted to stuff them. I LOVE stuffed cupcakes I cant remember the last time I didn't stuff a cupcake. I don't think an attribute of a cupcake should be low fat, healthy, light or otherwise. It is quite litterally a cake in a cup and therefore I want it to tast as such, a rich delicious single sized cake. So anyay, being that the nature of red velvet is chocolate albeit hard to tell most times, I put chocolate ganache in the middle.

Verdict:
The cupcakes themselves are bright red and really moist. I was disapointed that they fell after cooling. Im pretty sure that it was because the batter was pretty dense and I kept playing with the liquid ratio so it got a little over beaten. That and I think my oven could have been about 25 degrees hotter. But they are still good.

The Ganache was a splendid idea and I'm very happy I did it. It really brings out the cocoa flavor in the cake. Plus its a rich gooey surprise in the middle.

My only, and I do mean only, complaint about cream cheese icing is that it is softer than regular icing and therefore harder to get it to keep its form. Which is why the store bought kind is so much more sweet than homemade becuase the added sugar helps it stiffen up. That being said, the icing is in a word, fantastic.

Semi-Homemade Red Velvet Cake

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix. I used Betty Crocker Butter Recipe Yellow.
1 Box chocolate pudding - the cook and serve kind
1 stick butter
1 cup buttermilk. If you don't have this you can add 1 tbls lemon juice to regular milk.
3 eggs
1 tbls red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the wet ingredients first, then add the dry somewhat slowly. (to avoid a dust storm!) This will produce a thick cake batter. Line your cupcake tin with baking cups and fill to a little over 3/4 full. (I find it easiest to use a ladel to do this). Put them in the oven and bake for 17 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completly before frosting.

yeilds appox 2 dozen

Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz semi sweet chocolate chips.

Using a double broiler,  (This can be achieved by placing a glass bowl atop a pot of boiling water) pour in chocolate chips. Contiuously stir as they begin to melt to avoid scalding. When chips are about halfway melted pour in cream. Continue to stir until the chips have full melted and blended with the cream to form a smooth shiny chocolate mixture. Place in the refrigerator until cool, about an hour. Using a baking injector (I use a hostpital food syringe which is great becuase it has measurement markings all the way down) push it into the center of the cupcakes and twirl around a bit to make the hole inside a little bigger (not the one at the top) and fill with desired amount. Repeat till done.

Cream Cheese Icing - I doubled this recipe because I like a lot of icing
2 packages cream cheese softened to room temperature
10 tbls butter
4 cups confectioners sugar
4 tsps vanilla extract

Mix wet ingredients together until smooth. Slowly add in sugar. Beat until smooth.