Cream Cheese Frosting

I like this cream cheese frosting recipe because it retains the tangy cream cheese taste that is so essential to me when it comes to frosting red velvet cakes. Its really easy and really delicious on any cake though!

Ingredients:
16 oz. cream cheese (2 packages), softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
A pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. With an electric mixer, blend cream cheese and butter until smooth.
   
   
2. On low speed, add powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla extract.
   
   
3. Turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy.
   
   
4. Use immediately.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

These cupcakes are soooo beautiful. The flavor and texture is perfect.





And the COLOR is gorgeous! Perfect red velvet color.



I know that some of you might freak out about the fact that this recipe calls for two whole bottles of red food coloring... but really, it isn't going to kill you.



Unless you eat these delicious cupcakes as a part of your regular every day diet... And if that's the case, the red food coloring is not the issue you should be concerned about. :P



Just let the pictures speak for themselves. :)



If you're looking for a red velvet cupcake recipe, you really don't need to look any further. Go bake it now!

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. red food coloring (two bottles)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
3. In a small bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go until smooth.
5. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.
6. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda (it will fizz).  Add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine.
7. Fill cupcake cups with batter about 3/4 full.  You may not fill all the cups, but I ended up with 24 cupcakes.
8. Place muffin tins on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree oven.  Bake for approximately 20-22 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Check early and don’t overbake!
9. Cool in their tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove to cool completely before frosting.
10. Frost with cream cheese frosting (recipe here).

Banana Cream Cheese Muffin w/ Crumb Topping

I read somewhere that, "Whoever invented the muffin understood that even grown-ups secretly want to eat cake for breakfast." This is so true! Especially for these muffins because they have a not-too-sweet layer of cream cheese filling inside~





These muffins are very moist and delicious. And honestly, I bet it would be just as delicious without the cream cheese filling for those of you who want a traditional banana muffin.




These are easy to bake... I guess it can just be annoying because you need to prepare three separate mixtures: batter; cream cheese filling; and crumb topping.  But they are all very easy to put together. Basically, the cream cheese filling and crumb topping is just throwing the ingredients into a bowl and mixing.



Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures because I took them with my phone. I still think they look pretty despite camera-phone-quality photos.

Ingredients:
-For the muffin-
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 egg, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

-For the cream cheese filling-
8 oz. (1 package) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, room temperature

-For the crumb topping-
1/3 cup coarse brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, mash bananas and beat in sugar, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla.
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
4. Gradually stir in the dry flour mixture to the wet egg mixture until just moistened.
5. In another bowl, make cream cheese filling by beating all three ingredients together until nice and fluffy.
6. Start filling muffin liners by alternating between the muffin batter and cream cheese filling. (Optional: You can even add a layer of crumbs somewhere in between too, just make sure you leave enough crumb topping for the top of the muffins) Start and end with muffin batter until 3/4 way full.
7. Sprinkle the top of the muffins with crumb topping generously.
8. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.