So very far.
Sigh.
And.
Sighhhhhh.
So tomorrow is Fab Fiver Mike's birthday, and I volunteered to make something sweet and delicious. You may remember Mike as the disillusioned-Laker-fan-turned-darkside-misguided-Clipper fan (and Angel fan...but that's for another post). But Mike isn't all about the Clippers (thank goodness), and in fact luvs brownies. And so Maryn and I made him brownies. Many brownies. And well, seeing as how it's his birthday and all, you think I would make him more brownies.
That would be the thoughtful thing to do.
But. I'm tired of making brownies. There. I said it. Chocolate in a 9 x 13 pan just was not speaking to me. However, red velvet cupcakes were.
Strange, I know. Talking cupcakes?
Honestly, I've never quite understood the infatuation with these red velvet things. I mean...they are essentially chocolate cupcakes...but red. Unnaturally red, in fact. I guess that's what 6 Tablespoons of red food coloring does to you. And that frosting. It's just cream cheese. What's so original about that?
And yet, people act like it's everything and a bag of chips. I would much rather have something more original. Like...strawberry! Or...Peanut butter cupcakes filled with jelly! Or...nutella or pistachio! Or...berry lemon. Oh wait...I did have berry lemon.
Berry lemony amazingness. I even ate all of that pillowy berry frosting. And I don't even like frosting! Or, at least I thought I didn't.
So why the almost red velvet? Well...
Lesson #1: Always check your red food coloring supply before baking red velvet cupcakes. Unless you want brown velvet cupcakes. Which is what I made.
Lesson #2: Invest in some pastry tips for decorating purposes. I thought I had a set. I really did...because I remember failing the last time I tried using them. Locate these pastry tips prior to putting your frosting in a pastry bag. Otherwise you will end up with a pastry bag full of frosting. And no way to get it out. Which equals wasted frosting. Which leads to under-frosted cupcakes. Story of the past hour for me.
Lesson #3: Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting. Even though you really, really, really want to try one. Warm cupcake + cool frosting = drippy frosting. Not attractive.
What does this all amount to?
A decidely home-style, home-grown cupcake. Oh well. I gotta say...it is pretty good. Maybe looks aren't everything.
I think raspberries can make anything look appetizing.
Seeing as how these were definitely not "too beautiful to eat", I decided to munch away. Red velvet without the red. Like a cheeseburger without the cheese.
A few bites later. I'm happy these were yummy. Definitely didn't have their looks to fall back on.
Two bites later. Still no red in my red velvet. Just chocolate crumbs everywhere.
To it's credit, this is a good cupcake. Springy and moist and nice chocolate-y flavor. I guess the red was just for fun, and the cream cheese frosting helps to cover the almost-red-but-totally-brown color. Even though it wasn't pretty pastry star frosting.
Oh well. My tummy doesn't know the difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment