{Make It Monday} - Red Velvet Cupcakes (yes it's Tuesday & this post is late!)



Well this post is late!  Especially since it's now Tuesday morning at 12:00am while I'm writing it.  Eh, better late than never!  Yesterday was a nutty day for me...We threw a surprise shower for a girl from our ladies coffee night group.  So I had decorations and gifts, doctor appointment, etc....to take care of and ran out of time.  One of the things I took to her shower which was a "Sprinkles" theme "Sprinkled with Love" was these Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting!  This is the second time I've made them and once again gotten GREAT reviews. 

I'm going to let you in on a secret...Shhhhh!  I used boxed cake mix!  I always do, I don't bake the cake from scratch and probably never will!  The frosting though I do make from scratch, I have been for about a year now...it's so much better and so worth it!  I'm going to share my recipe with you so jot this down.

I buy Wilton's Red Velvet Cake mix.

Okay so make your cake mix according to the package!  This box calls for 3 eggs, oil, and water. 

Once done mixing it, fill your cupcake papers.  I made mini cupcakes today and it yielded about 30'ish.  I used a small ice cream scoop and filled my wrapper 3/4 of the way full.  Then bake at 350 degrees, I didn't time them but I think it was about 10 minutes for each batch..you'll know when they are done! 

Now for the

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

You will need the following:

1 - 8 oz. package Cream Cheese Softened

1 - Stick of Butter Softened

1/2 Cup of Shortening

4 Cups of Powdered Sugar (sifted, but honestly who cares!)

1/8 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Vanilla

Start by putting your softened cream cheese in a bowl with the softened butter, and cream them together.

Now add the shortening and finish creaming all 3 ingredients together.

Now add your salt.  And start gradually adding in your powdered sugar. 

I add one cup at a time and blend until it's all combined.

Now add your vanilla and blend really well!  That's it. 

At this point I fill a pastry bag with the appropriate tip and set it in the fridge for a few minutes to stiffen a bit and wait until my cupcakes completely cool before icing them.  When my cupcakes are ready I pull the frosting out of the fridge and let it sit for a few minutes to loosen up just a little bit.  Then I frost. 

Extra frosting can be stored in a closed container for a few days.