Red Velvet Cake Cupcakes

For as long as I can remember my mom has made red velvet cake for special occasions. For some reason I have been craving red velvet cake, but I really didn't want to put all the work into making a layered cake, so I decided that cupcakes would do the trick. They were weren't very hard to make, and I am definitely "baking challenged." Here is the recipe that I used.

Red Velvet Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
2 1/3 cups of cake flour
2 tablespoons of Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of buttermilk*
1 1/2 tablespoons of red food coloring
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar

Frosting ingredients
1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
8 oz of Philly cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
2 - 3 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
*You can make your own buttermilk by adding a tablespoon of distilled white vinegar to milk and letting it stand for about 10 minutes.

The cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer for 3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is fully incorporated. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract, and red food coloring.
Add a fourth of the dry ingredients and mix, then add a third of the wet. Continue adding in a dry, wet, dry pattern, ending with the dry ingredients.
Scoop into cupcake papers, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate the pan after the first 15 minutes of baking to ensure even baking.
Allow to cool for one minute in the pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes.

The Frosting

Cream the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
Add the vanilla extract and mix.
Add the powdered sugar, continually taste to get to desired sweetness. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

I can't believe its been more than a year!

Wow...time flies. Things for Davy and I have changed a lot over the last year! Nov. 30th of last year Davy became self employed. Working for himself is something that he has dreamed about for years! So needless to say this year has been incredibly busy, but also very exciting! With that said our focus on real estate was really pushed to the side. We had a goal of owning 5 properties by the time we were 25, which we accomplished. So being the goal oriented people that we are, we set a new goal of 3 properties by the time we were 26. The two small duplexes that gave us most of the grief were just too much for us to maintain. I looked in the public tax records to find out who owned the duplexes around us, I was able to find their phone number on the Internet and they ending up purchasing the units from us! So that leaves us with our house we currently live in, the duplex 500 yards away from our house, and a house in Cleveland.
So needless to say its time for a new focus for the blog. It will probably end up being more about our daily lives as opposed to the crazy stories from our rental properties.