Red Velvet Love Cakes

How about a new addition to the bakery sweets lineup. Cupcakes! A few of the bakeries in Utah are doing them now and that's all James needed to hear to finally give in to my requests. I've wanted to make cupcakes for years now, but James just never quite got around to it. But if another Great Harvest is doing it, then by all means it must be important:)

We decided since it's Valentine season we'd start with some Red Velvet Love Cakes. A moist homemade cupcake with yummy cream cheese frosting. It's got all the little high school girls squealing. Come on over to the bakery and try one. They won't last long, but the next cupcake is going to knock your socks off.

Don't tell anyone but I'm going to give you the recipe for these Love Cakes. Since technically it's not a Great Harvest recipe, and I won't have to kill you after giving it out, I'll share. It's a recipe from a dear friend Martha. Martha Stewart that is, and no, I don't know her. I know a man who used to be her neighbor in Connecticut though. He didn't have very nice things to say about her, but I'm sure if she were my neighbor I'd let her borrow a cup of sugar anytime. That's how nice I am to my neighbors :) The recipe comes from her new cookbook entitled "Cupcakes". I knew I need not go any farther than this book for the perfect Red Velvet, and Emma says these Love Cakes are delish. I wouldn't know.............I'm on a diet.

My Dear Friend Martha's Red Velvet Love Cakes

(recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes)

2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted

2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon red gel-paste food color

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cake flour, cocoa, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in food color and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and whisking well after each. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will foam); add mixture to the batter, and mix on medium speed 10 seconds.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature before serving.