It's that time of year my friends where years of hard work boil down to the final steps down the yellow brick road...GRADUATION! My long time friend, Dorothy, graduated with her Master's in Social Work from Arizona State University. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
So in celebration, I baked her two delicious batches of cupcakes: Red Velvet Cupcakes, using the same recipe found in my previous post for CBRE's Softball Cupcakes. I was hesitant to make a pure Cream Cheese Frosting since I wasn't sure how long they would be out without refrigeration, so I looked to nifty ole Martha Stewart for a Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting which is basically the one I usually make, less the sour cream. I finished these off with homemade ASU Graduation Caps made of Marshmallow Fondant!!
And if you knew Dorothy and I when we're hanging together, if it's not MAC, Marc Jacobs, or a Betsey Johnson product in hand, it's a cocktail :-P So making Cosmopolitan Cupcakes for her was just the intuitive thing to do. I am proud to say that this recipe is my very FIRST fully personal recipe, so I'm going to be pretty stingy on this one and leave it just for me ;-)
Red Velvet Cupcakes
(Makes 30 cupcakes)
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 bottle (1 ounce) McCormick® Red Food Color
2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Using an ice cream scoop with tradition release handle, scoop into 30 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
3. Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans. When completely cooled, frost with Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting.
Vanilla Cream Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 box (16 ounces) confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1. Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until creamy, about 30 seconds.
2. With the mixer on low, slowly add sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowls as necessary.
3. Add vanilla and increase mixer speed to medium. Blend until frosting is fluffy, about 1 minute. Now FROST!
(Sorry Friends! This one is going to have to stay in my cupcake diary!)
Maroon & Gold for ASU:
Red Velvet Cupcake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting and Gold Glitter
NOW it's a party!
Grad Hat Cupcakes accompanied by Cosmopolitan Cupcakes .
Pose #1: Vogue with your Cupcake.
Pose #2: Devour your Cupcake.
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