Here’s a thought that crossed my spoiled mind this evening. What if, say, like my family in Australia, I can’t just run to the store and grab a box of red velvet cake mix off the shelf. I’ve obviously forgotten that it wasn’t that many years ago that I didn’t even know what a red velvet cake was! Imagine that.

This week I received an email from a fellow cake maker who asked me to share my favourite red velvet cake recipe since she wasn’t able to buy a box mix. Fellow bakers give me mixed reactions when I openly admit to using (insert scary music here)…. red velvet cake out of a box!! Well, I do and I’m not afraid to say it. Why not? It’s bad enough getting covered in red cake mix, which I usually do, without having to mess with red food colouring when measuring it out for a “from scratch” recipe.

Actually, there is a little history to my dread of red…  I used to own a small bakery in Australia and had left some decorating items out on the dining table in my brand new dining room, in my brand new home.  To cut a long story short, my youngest daughter was a climber and the result was red food colouring all over her and the brand new carpet!  We bleached it out and then had to dye the carpet back lovingly with teabags.  So you might now understand my dislike of red food colouring, even if red is my favourite color!

Ok, back to the cake at hand.  I tend to look at box cake mixes as a starting point, and usually tweak them by changing out the oil with apple sauce for instance, and adding my own flavourings, add-ins etc. I’m sure the good people at Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker and Pillsbury didn’t just whip them together in five minutes. It is my understanding that they have spent years perfecting their mixes for our convenience. And very often that is the time I have no compunction in reaching for one.

Sure there is nothing quite like a delicately created sponge or genoise but there are times when I just need to get out two dozen cupcakes in a hurry and trust me, 5 year olds very rarely call me out on using a box cake mix over a scratch baked cake. Their beaming little faces covered in frosting are all the proof I need that sometimes, it’s ok.

So let’s get this red velvet cake made!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup dutch processed (dark) cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons red gel food coloring
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter ( softened)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2  1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Method:

Preheat oven to 325°. Line muffin pan with paper liners.

Whisk together cocoa powder, food coloring, and hot water. Set aside to cool.

In the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and shortening until smooth. Scrape down bowl and add sugar. Beat until mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir buttermilk and vanilla into the cooled cocoa mixture. Sift cake flour and salt together into another bowl. With the mixer on low, alternate adding the flour mixture (in 3 parts) and the cocoa mixture (in 2 parts) to the egg mixture. Beat until incorporated.  Combine vinegar and baking soda and stir until baking soda dissolves; the mixture will fizz. Add to batter and stir until just combined.

Fill cupcake pans 2/3 full with batter. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven, transfer to a wire rack, and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan, and let cool completely.

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We so loved yesterday’s batch of Upside-down Caramel Apple Cupcakes that I decided to make some more but this time right way up. I had a dozen plain spice cupcakes left over to use.

This time around I peeled and chopped 2 large Pink Lady apples which are excellent for cooking with. They held their shape wonderfully and didn’t break down when stirred into the caramel even once they were tender.

Caramel Sauce

10 oz unsalted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
pinch salt

Melt the butter over medium heat in a pan. Add the sugars and spices. I cooked this reducing the heat a little until it bubbled and didn’t look so watery on top. To test my caramel I place a teaspoon full of the sauce on a glass plate and pop it in the freezer for a few minutes to see how it’s setting up. You don’t want a hard toffee like caramel in your cupcakes. When you get a nice soft but not runny consistency add the chopped apples and continue to cook until the apples are tender… I wasn’t adding them to the oven this time since I was using cupcakes I had made previously, so I needed to cook them a little longer.

Cut a small cap from the top of the cupcakes by diagonally inserting a sharp knife into the cupcakes  from the edge towards the center about one inch.  Cut around until a small cap pops out.  You can see the shape of the well in the image below.  I trim off the point on these caps so they sit flat when I put them back on top of the caramel apple filling.

Add a heaped teaspoon of the caramel apple filling to the cupcakes.  Replace the trimmed caps and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  I think these looks so festive and use colored cupcake papers to suit the season.  Great for those Fall parties, Thanksgiving and other Holiday festivities.

As always, if you have any questions be sure and drop me a line.  I love hearing from you all and will do my best to answer in a clear manner…  Often I think my instructions are clear but then again…

Cheers for now,

Colleen

You might think I’m a little premature in baking an item so suited to Fall weather, but there is something wonderful about the fragrance of cooked apple and cinnamon that I just couldn’t resist.

When the air conditioner is on and it’s overcast it’s easy to overlook the fact that the temperature outside is actually in the upper 90s.

I saw a photo of an upside-down caramel apple cupcake on Flickr made by 4GoodnessCake and thought they looked easy enough to make, which they were.  For some reason I decided to chop up my apples when the ones I saw online had used a ring of apple.  The ring would have been far easier to get out of the pan I’m sure and probably would have made a more traditional flat bottom shape.  I had to scoop out some of the apple chunks and reposition them on the cupcakes.  But as they cooled they set up well and stayed where they were put.

I used a recipe for Applesauce-Spice Cake from my Betty Crocker Best of Baking book.  The spicy cake with added applesauce was great coupled with the cooked apple I placed into the pan before the cake mix. Step 1 – Cook the Apples This recipe test yielded enough batter for two dozen cupcakes but I only had enough cooked apples for one dozen so the remainder are just plain old spice cakes.

• Peel and chop into small chunks two apples of your choice.  I used Granny Smith because they hold together well when cooked and that is what hubby bought back with him from the store so little choice really!
• In a skillet I melted 1 cup of unsalted butter, to which I added 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and just a pinch of salt to bring out the flavours.
• Add the chopped apples (or rings if you prefer) and cook just until they begin to get tender.
• Scoop about 1  tablespoon of this mixture into the bottom of a greased cupcake pan.

Step 2 – The Cake Batter
Seriously people, if you want to use a box spice cake mix – DO IT! I’m all about convenience and sometimes we just don’t have the time to do it from scratch. Yeah, yeah, I know purist bakers are rolling their eyes…

2  1/2 cups of all purpose flour
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of butter
1  1/2 cups of apple sauce (I prefer the unsweetened natural)
1/2 cup of water
1  1/2 tsp of baking soda
1  1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350F (180C) degrees.  Beat all the ingredients together in your mixer on low speed, scrape the bottom to ensure no dry ingredients are sitting down there for about 30 seconds.  Then beat on medium high for around 3 mins until batter looks relatively smooth.

You can now add this batter on top of your cooked apples in the cupcake pans, filling each hole to about 2/3 full.  I use a quarter cup measure to try and get some uniformity in my cupcake size.

Bake for around 20 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched with a fingertip.   They will look brown due to the spice cake mix but don’t let them get too dark.   When cooked, cool in the pan for approximately ten to fifteen minutes.  I used a large spoon to remove mine from the pan, scooping up the apple and sauce that stayed in the pan.

Have your cupcake papers sitting on the cooling rack and place each cupcake apple side up in the papers.  I drizzled on any syrup and apple left in the bottom of the pan.  Let cool.  You can decorate any way you wish.  These were good the next day cold out of the refrigerator or heated in the microwave with a scoop of vanilla icecream and some caramel sauce.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to comment here or email me.

Happy happy baking!

My favourite drink is an Arnold Palmer – half iced tea, half lemonade. Paula Deen’s recipe for a cupcake by the same name didn’t receive very good reviews so I set out to make my own.  And yes, it uses a box cake mix… I know, culinary purists are mortified, but hey, cake mixes are perfected and a great time saver, so I say go ahead, there are no rules in your own kitchen!

Oh and don’t forget to pop on over to Kitchen Rap to see the Summer 2009 Cupcake Crawl! Vote for these cupcakes or my “You’ll go bananas” entry…

Yield: Approx 18 cupcakes Prep time: 10 mins Bake time: 17-20 mins Ingredients: 1 Betty Crocker or similar super moist lemon box cake mix 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 1/4 cups milk 3 Large Eggs 4 White Tea Bags or loose leaf equivalent.

Lemon & White Tea Cupcakes

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Method:

Preheat oven to 350F. Either spray a cupcake pan or line with cupcake papers.

Heat milk to around 130F and steep tea bags or leaf for five minutes. Strain milk through fine sieve or strainer to remove any tea leaves. Allow milk to cool before adding to mixture so as not to cook the eggs.

In a mixing bowl, add cake mix, tea infused milk, oil and eggs. Beat on medium speed for two minutes. Scrape side and bottom of bowl to ensure no dry mix left.

Fill cupcake pan to three quarters full and bake for around 17-20 mins. Cupcakes should be golden and spring back on top when depressed slightly.

Cool completely before frosting with your favourite lemon buttercream. Finish off by zesting some fresh lemon rind across the top.

These are more lemon flavoured with just a hint of the tea. I will be trying out different tea types in future batches. Enjoy!

Why is it that when you take your eyes off the fruit bowl for one day the bananas end up black and overripe?  I hate to see fruit go bad and luckily when it’s bananas you can still use them for yummy banana bread or in this case banana cupcakes!

Be sure to visit Kitchen Rap & Gourmet Girl’s 2009 Summer Cupcake Crawl to vote on the luscious cupcake entries.. of course a vote for me would be great too!

Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients 4oz (125g) butter 6oz (175g) sugar 2 eggs 2 large mashed ripe bananas (or 3 med sized) 1 tsp Baking soda 2 Tbsp boiling milk 1 tsp baking power 8oz (225g) flour

Method Cream butter & sugar for around 2 minutes preferably in your stand mixer with a paddle attachment.  Or you can do it by hand if you’re up to it! Add eggs one at a time. Add mashed bananas. Add baking soda that has been dissolved in hot milk. Lastly mix in sifted flour & baking powder. Spoon into cupcake papers and bake at 350 deg F for around 20 mins.  They should begin to get golden on top but don’t over bake. Glaze Ingredients 1/4 cup butter 2 cups powdered sugar 2 tbsp milk, (or you can use heavy cream for thicker glaze) extract/flavoring – I used Banana and it was great! Melt 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) of butter in a saucepan or microwave. Sift 2 cups of powdered sugar into a medium size bowl. Add the melted butter to the powdered sugar. Add 2 tablespoons of milk. If desired, add 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract or 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla for flavor. Beat until smooth and creamy, adding a little more milk if necessary. Drizzle over a cooled cake. Tips: For a richer and creamier glaze, use heavy cream in place of the milk. Substitute citrus juice for the milk and add a little grated zest for a citrus glaze.

One of my husband’s coworkers loves strawberries apparently and tomorrow is her birthday. So I’m making a cake so filled with strawberries it’ll blow her mind!

	Strawberry cake with a strawberry simple syrup infused with mascerated strawberries between the layers. Then I made an italian buttercream for the filling and crumbcoat. I then topped it with a strawberry cream cheese buttercream, a clear strawberry sauce I made, fresh sliced and chocolate dipped strawberries.
Do you think she’ll get her fill of strawberry??
	The frill around the sides is done with a St. Honore’ tip… I need to work on my continuity but I hadn’t used that tip before is my excuse!