Saturday, January 30, 2010

At a loss for a title.....

I looked out the window around sunset and noticed the moon was huge. The picture really does not show the size well but it was close to the harvest moon size. I took this photo out my second floor bedroom window, got to love eastern exposure in the morning! I would have headed out but it was -15c (5f) at the time, before wind chill, burr!

I was over at Kalena's blog , her family baked up these red velvet cupcakes which looked amazing. She was nice enough to pass along the recipe so I gave them a try. It was my Mom's b-day on Jan 29th so I covertly baked them the night before for a surprise. They are excellent, the icing is even excellent-er! Here goes the recipe:

Red Velvet Cupcakes
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/3 cups flour
  • 2 T coco powder
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1 t baking powder
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 1/2 T red food coloring
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1 t vinegar
Preheat oven to 350f. Cream sugar & butter together until fluffy. Add eggs and beat again until fluffy. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients and mix. In another bowl at wet ingredients and mix. Alternate dry & wet ingredients into the butter mixture in 1/4's.

Spoon batter into muffin tins lined with cupcake papers. Bake for 18-22 minute or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool before icing.

Cream Cheese Icing
  • 1/2 cup butter, room temp
  • 8oz cream cheese, room temp (1 package)
  • 3 cups icing sugar
  • 1 t vanilla
Beat butter & cream cheese together until fluffy. Add icing sugar a bit at a time until it is all incorporated. Then add vanilla and continue to beat until the icing is aerated and stiff.

17 comments:

  1. Those cupcakes sound AWESOME! Yum.

    And your moon photo is beautiful. I tried to photograph it but did not do so well at capturing it.

    (btw- your celeriac seeds will go out tomorrow. I have found your address and the seed packet. Its nearly time to start them!)

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  2. Mmmmm... red velvet cupcake munching by the light of a very full moon. There must be something magical in that combo - don't you think?!

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  3. They look like what I'd call muffins. What the transatlantics call English Muffins are crumpets - or in Yorkshire, pikelets! Confusings eh? They look gorgeous, whatever you call them.

    We had an amazing, just-about-full moon here last night. The night was so bright. The morning was bright too - another snow-fall!

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  4. Oh yuum! I love red velvet, and the cream cheese icing is the best. Enjoy them!

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  5. Those cupcakes sure do look good! I haven't had red velvet cake in quite some time - may have to make these myself!

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  6. Oh yum! Those cupcakes will be a great treat for Valentine's Day.

    The moon pic is gorgeous! I noticed it was rather bright last night with the moon reflecting on the snow, but I didn't even look at the moon itself. It's a shame to miss the opportunity to see something so beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Neat! I looked out my window the other evening and noticed a strange moonlight effect. The moon was extremely bright and directly overhead, which created an eerie, spidery pattern in black-and-white with the shadows of my walnut tree's branches splayed out directly from the base of the trunk. There was no wind at all, either. It made my backyard look like some kind of stage set.

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  8. The moon shot turned out great. It was surprising to see it so large.

    The cupcakes are so GOOD....!!!!

    Thanks Dan :)

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  9. wow, that's an amazing shot dan!

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  10. Fabulous moon shot and I just love those teeth marks in the icing !
    MMmmmm, cupcakes ... *drool*

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  11. Might I say, that is one of the most beautiful moon pics, I have ever laid eyes on! Same goes for the cupcakes! Also, I am very excited about your seedlings! Keep me posted!

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  12. Love the cupcakes, but it is the frosting that I'd want to eat. Yum. Cream cheese frosting is my favorite.

    I was noticing the moon yesterday too. It really was beautiful.

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  13. Wow! As Victoria Williams sings, "Why look at that moon!"

    And now I know what I want to bake next!

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  14. Yeah, the Moon has been huge for the past few days! Incredible!

    And wow, those cupcakes looks AWESOME!

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  15. Yes, we had the same moon in Boston, but I couldn't take such a spectacular photo with all our light pollution.

    What is it about this weather that brings out the cupcake bakers? We made "button cupcakes" here today.

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  16. This is the second (mine being the third) pix of this gorgeous moon that I've seen. Wasn't it just magnificent. It filled up the entire sky.

    And aren't you good to bake your mom Red Velvet cupcakes. Well done indeed. Your mom raised a wonderful son.

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  17. I saw that incredible moon too and can understand why you were compelled to start lunar planting.

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