Red Velvet Cupcakes

Looking for delicious fluffy red velvet cupcake, stop your looking now! I`ve tried maybe recipes to get the desired texture I want and this one is by far the best! It left my family hunting me down to make more! Enjoy, and load the icing on!!

Inspiration: Ever since I was young I always had a love for red velvet cupcakes. Whenever I think of them I'm reminded of a time back when I was 7 years old. I was having the worst day a kid could possibly have at that age, not only did my boyfriend of 2 hours dump me, but I lost the favourite blue crayon. As soon as I went home I cried all of this to my parents, who could not find any way to comfort my life crisis. My Mom got an idea and out she ran to the car, which she soon returned with a scretive box. She opened the box, which to my suprise was filled with red velvet cupcakes. To make the day even better, she tripped and the cupcakes flew all over me. My day was not only better, but I ate every single one of the cupcakes, even the ones that were on the floor for more than 10 seconds. What can I say, I was 7 right?!

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk(other option listed at bottom)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt

Lots of red food colouring

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease one 12 cup muffin pan or line with 12 paper baking cups.

2. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar by hand or an electric mixture until fluffy. Mix in eggs, buttermilk, red food colouring(you can skip this step if your okay with brown cupcakes!) and vanilla. Stir in the baking soda and vinegar. Combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt; sift into the batter and stir just until blended. Spoon the batter into prepared pan. Divide evenly so all the cupcakes finish baking roughly around the same time.

3. Bake in the oven until the tops spring back when pressed lightly, roughly 20-25 minutes. Cool on pan or on a wire rack and get ready to frost!

Classic Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting

 Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter softened

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

1. Beat the butter for a few minutes so it is very easy to work with. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and mix until fully incorporated with the butter. Add the vanilla, salt, and 2 Tb of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes.

TIP- if your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add milk.

When decorating you can apply the icing with a knife or spatula... or pipe it on!! The easiest way to get the icing in your piping bag is to place the bag into a cup. Wrap the bag around the outer edge of the cup and fill it up with icing. These is a hands free and less mess way to get the icing flowing!


EXTRA- Sprinkle a little cinnamon to the finished iced product to give it a little extra flare!

BUTTERMILK

Instead of buying buttermilk for this one recipe you can make your own! Take 1 cup of milk and add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes, and your ready to go!

Chocolate Cake

Prefect for birthdays, holiday gatherings or that recent breakup to stuff your face! The best thing about making cake batter is it leaves you so many possibilities such as making cupcakes, making a 1 tier cake, or making a multiple tier cake. Here I made a 1 tier cake, but don`t let that stop you from making a cake as tall as the roof!

Ingredients:

2 cups boiling water

1 cup cocoa powder

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter, softened

2 1/4 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1.In medium bowl pour boiling water over cocoa and whisk until smooth: let mixture completely cool! If the mixture is still warm and you add it to the other mixtures it will melt your butter, thus creating a less fluffy cake:(!!!! Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, and then add vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the cocoa mixture. Spread batter evenly between one big pan or numerous smaller ones.

3. Baking for 25-30 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean at 350 degrees F.

SWITCH IT UP:

Add whatever fruits or chopped nuts you`d like! As well, if making a layered cake don`t be afraid to add fruit with the icing and load it on!

And now... the icing!

 Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter softened

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tb vanilla extract

4 Tb milk or heavy cream

1. Beat the butter for a few minutes so it is very easy to work with. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and mix until fully incorporated with the butter. Add the vanilla, salt, and 2 Tb of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes.

*TIP- If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add milk.*

Banana Bread

This recipe is actually stolen from grandma`s kitchen!

Inspiration: I decided to make banana bread because it's my Father's favourite. My house always smelled of fresh banana bread because he was so in love with it. I remember he would always let me squish the banana's with my hands, which at the age of 7-17 is very amusing. So this baked good is for him, love you Dad!

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup softened butter

2 eggs

3 medium bananas

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cup white sugar.

2. Then add 1butter(better if warm/soft),eggs,  mashed bananas and make sure completely stirred.

3. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees f.

SWITCH IT UP:

Depending on what you like to eat in your loaves, adding chopped walnuts and extra banana's makes for a delicious and one of a kind treat.

From mix to master piece!!

Chocolate Chip's Galore

If your a fan of the fine art's of cooking, you'll hate these. These cookies are messy, sloppy, and most wonderfully delicious. Try making these without sticking hand fulls of dough into your mouth.

Ingredients:

1 cup softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1-1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt(optional)
1 package Hershey's Chipits


The Original Chipits Cookies

1.Cream together softened butter, packed brown sugar, and white sugar. The beat in 2 eggs and vanilla.

2.Combine all purpose flour, 1baking soda and salt(optional).

3.Stir in 1 package of Hershey's Chipits.

4. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees f for 10 to 12 minutes.

Should make about 4 dozen cookies depending on how much dough you ate during the whole process

SWITCH IT UP:

Instead of adding chocolate chips you can add anything in your hands reach. Great options are the following:

Any chopped nuts, raisins, oats, bananas, and any other wacky thing you can add to create your own unique flavour.

Now grab your cup of milk and let the dipping begin!!