Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Really, doesn't the title say it all?

Well, maybe a photo or two will help illustrate the point.

Last week I bought a mini muffin tin. I had it in my head that, if I am going to insist on baking cupcakes constantly, it would be better to have minis. Because then the kids get the joy of eating two cupcakes, and I get the joy of knowing that 2 mini cupcakes are actually smaller than one regular cupcake. Don't you love that logic?

With Valentine's Day coming, I thought red velvet cupcakes were in order. The girls both adore Valentine's Day, what with the pink, the purple, the hearts, the sweets...

Nobody wanted to help bake them. They were too busy practicing cartwheels. Nora did come in to check on me at one point. Her comment? "Why are you filling those little cups with ketchup?" You see it too, don't you?

While the ketchup cakes were baking, I mixed up the cream cheese frosting. I used 1 1/2 bricks of Neufchatel. It was all I had in the fridge, I swear. But look at those flecks! Those are not poppy seeds. Those are specks of vanilla bean. I am slowly using up the vanilla I made last year.

Here's one rack of minis cooling. Yes, there's another rack cooling, too.

Dana sampled one by stuffing the entire thing into her mouth in one bite.

One rack of frosted mini cupcakes. Final cupcake count: 88. Not a typo- I ended up with eighty-eight teeny tinies. I know.

But aren't they so cute? Nora said, "Mom, the frosting is good, but the cupcakes are great!" Coming from a girl who normally licks off the frosting and throws the cake away, that was pretty awesome to hear.

Baking AND Sewing!

I had plans today, but they never really came to fruition. So I took the opportunity to be extra domestic: I baked AND sewed!

You all know I bake cupcakes a lot, but some holidays get ignored. Like, did I make Christmas cupcakes? I can't even remember. But I bake Valentine cupcakes every year. Even if they're really super early, I bake them. Because, of all of the holidays, Valentine's Day is the one that really begs for gaudy, chocolaty love. And also, it's one of the rare opportunities for me to use my heart platters.

When I resigned from my job, this is exactly what I envisioned: welcoming my daughters home from school with freshly-baked treats. Nora was oh so happy to see these today!

Tomorrow we are going to a baby shower, and even though I bought something off of the gift registry, I really could not see walking in without something handmade to go with it. Because you can dress a baby in anything and she can't argue about it, and trust me-that does not last.

Yesterday, Dana and I went to the fabric store and selected this fabric. I can't even tell you how much I love it. It's the softest flannel ever, and the birdies are sublime. You can't really tell, but the trim and ties are a coordinating floral, which you can see here. They are both Valori Wells, and I had such a hard time picking which specific fabric to use as all of her flannels are adorable.

The kimono top was made from this tutorial, and I found the pattern for the bloomers in my pattern box. I don't know where it's from! Hopefully the new mama will like this set!

Meathead

Sunday means family dinner in this neck of the woods. Literally, considering I pretty much live in a commune.

This Sunday we're celebrating my brother in law's birthday. His name, coincidentally, is Kevin.

Family dinner is potluck, and I made birthday cupcakes. Keenan, my nephew, told me his dad's favorite color is blue, so I went with it. Why not?

Our gift to him? A hat, of course. Meathead, to be specific.

As soon as I saw this hat, I knew I had to make it for him. He is a social worker and he enjoys entertaining his clients with his crazy hats. This one fits the bill.

The yarn is Mirasol Sulka, a blend of merino, alpaca and silk. It's incredible-so soft and warm. I am in love with every Mirasol yarn I have touched. Hope Kevin likes it, too.

Scooby Doo, Where Are You?

Miss Josephine turns 3 tomorrow, and her birthday party was on Saturday.
She told her mama, Charity, that she wanted a Scooby Doo party, and I, of course, had a cake pan for that!

The cupcakes are supposed to look like Scooby and his spots.

Dana adores Scooby and wanted her photo taken with this cake.

I've used this pan to make cakes for Zak, Keenan, Nora, Dana and Josie. Everyone sure loves Scooby Doo!

Independence Cakes

Happy Independence Day!

Last night, I dreamed that I made cupcakes and arranged them to look like the American flag. Not too hard to make that dream come true! Though I wish I had some fancy cake decors or something to spice them up a bit.

Do you have big plans for the Fourth? My sister is watching the girls while Kevin and I attend my friend's wedding. I am so very excited to see the group of girls I spent every moment with in high school. I haven't seen most of them in years. After the wedding, we're grilling with my sister and her family and then walking down to the lake to watch the fireworks.

I had just a tiny bit of batter left after making 2 dozen cupcakes, so I poured it into two silicon heart cupcake molds that were a gift from my aunt a few years ago. The teeny tiny heart platter might look familiar. I have a larger version of it, too, and they were wedding gifts.

Two happy cupcakes. They were so busy playing dress-up that they didn't even realize I was baking.

I hope you enjoy the festivities today!

Yes, Another Tote (and more cupcakes)

Well, one might argue that I am nothing if not predictable, and I would not be one to disagree. Evidence is below, in the form of a tote bag and some cupcakes.

I made this for Adrea's sixth birthday. Adrea is my neighbor, plus she happens to be my cousin's daughter. Which I think makes me her second cousin, but I consider her more my niece. She loves pink and she loves pretty, so we thought this fabric was perfect for her. The pink part is actually swirled with shiny pink.

Here are her party cupcakes. Her mom, Jenni, baked the cupcakes and made the frosting. All I did is tint it pink and purple and swirl it together to frost them. The kids sprinkled on colored sugar for a little oomph. Pretty fancy!

Blackberry Cupcakes

On Saturday evening, we attended our friend's belated annual Cinco de Mayo party. It's a potluck, and rather than making something Mexican, I, of course, made cupcakes.

I had been dreaming about this recipe for a week, and when I saw blackberries on sale at the grocery store near our house, it seemed meant to be.

Aren't they beautiful? The icing has butter, cream cheese, and blackberry preserves. It is a lovely color for sure.

But you know what? These were just okay. The cake was very heavy and tasted oddly like cornbread. The icing was delicious, but it had only a tiny hint of berry taste.

For the time this recipe took, and the quantity of ingredients required (6 eggs! 3 cups of sugar!), it wasn't worth it. But they sure are pretty!

And I may well try the icing again with a different type of preserves. Maybe blackberry isn't a strong enough flavor. But the party sure was fun!

Bachelorette Party (G rated, of course!)

My good friend Tara is getting married in two weeks.

She didn't want one of "those" bachelorette parties. You know what I mean. So her sister (I think) came up with the most amazing party instead: a slumber party!

We went to Larsmont Cottages, which is incredibly beautiful. We had a three bedroom cottage for the night, shared by eight friends.

The living room of our cottage.
We loved the fireplace! Though someone
(nobody is sure who) turned the thermostat
to 84 degrees, and it got almost that hot before
we noticed. Oops!

Big surprise that I brought cupcakes. I made a vanilla buttercream frosting using vanilla I made from beans my parents brought home from Huahine two years ago. The pink heart platter was completely appropriate for this event.

Charity brought the most spectacular sparklers, which were incredibly fun! They lasted forever and were so very bright. That's Tara, the bride, on the right.

And some more sparklers. See how happy Charity and Tara are? They really were THAT FUN!

I can't wait for the wedding! I just need to find myself a dress...

Soup and Cupcakes

Monday was knit night. I love knit night. I look forward to each one. Sometimes we spend more time eating and chatting than we do knitting, but who cares? It is my kind of fun. Occasionally, we do a soup swap. Everyone makes soup and brings enough for everyone else, and then we swap. It's exactly like a cookie exchange, except with soup. This is, after all, Northern Minnesota. We NEED soup for survival.

I decided to try a recipe for vegetarian tortilla soup and I have to say, Kevin and I were both happy with the results. I altered the recipe a bit, because that is what I do, and it came out great. Super tasty and minimally spicy. Nora found it too spicy anyway, but she thinks peppermint gum is too spicy. I love her, but I do not trust her version of spicy.

I found the recipe here, but I am going to write it below the way I made it. Because I can't vouch for it as published since I didn't make it quite like that. Close, but not quite.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large red onion
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
3 cloves pressed garlic
1 tablespoon cumin
1 (28 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies (so 2 ounces)
6 cups vegetable broth
1 bag frozen corn (12 to 16 ounces)
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
shredded cheddar
sour cream
avocado

1. Finely chop the onions and peppers. I used my food processor and everything got pretty wet. I was OK with that, but if you aren't, then maybe use a knife. Whatever floats your boat.

2. In a large soup pot, sautee the onions, peppers and garlic in the oil until soft.

3. Add the cumin, tomatoes, chilies and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 30-45 minutes. You can season with salt and pepper if desired.

4. Add the corn and black beans and cook 5 minutes or so, until they are hot.

5. Serve with cheese, avocado, sour cream and tortilla chips. Yum!

Like I said, sometimes we spend more time eating than knitting. I baked cupcakes to share. They are white cake with lemon buttercream icing. I topped them with yellow cake sparkles. They are pretty nice. Three days later, we only have 5 left out of 24. I am happy about that because I have only eaten one. Yup, one.