Thursday, September 3, 2009

Red Velvet Cupcakes

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My husband and I couldn’t have been raised by more different mothers. His stayed home, taught Sunday school and served homemade yogurt and wheat germ for breakfast. Mine worked long hours, let me stay up to watch Johnny Carson while I was still in elementary school, and served me sugar cereal.


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I am too new to parenting to say how much of palette-building is nature or nurture. But from my own childhood, I am somewhat ambivalent. After growing up eating 2-3 bowls of sugar-laden cereal a day, I have grown up to be slim and cavity-free. Most importantly I have a sense of moderation for sweets. I am that person who will eat one bite of cake and need no more. My husband has a voracious sweet tooth. And, don’t think that his wheat germ breakfasts were emblematic of a childhood of sweet deprivation—that is certainly not the case. Soon after meeting my mother-in-law for the first time, I mean hours after meeting a woman who at first seemed very pleasant and kind, she informed me she would not, could not share her desserts. (I should tell you in all other things she is very sharing.) So, for my husband to have a sweet tooth, I am not surprised.

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Belle might come to think of King Arthur as a magical fairy who changed her mother from vegetable toting disciplinarian into a cupcake baking sorceress. We received a box of King Arthur Unbleached Flour to test as part of Bloggeraid: Changing the Face of Famine. Belle looks like me--but her sweet tooth is all her father’s. When she says cupcake, she enunciates every syllable and her eyes light up as if she can already taste the sugar on her lips. She loves my experiments with the cake flour.

So, after peach upside down cake and red currant glazed cupcakes, we made red velvet cupcakes using the Canadian Baker recipe. This recipe really made the cake flour sing—they were moist and airy.

So, King Arthur, Belle and her sweet tooth thank you for your cake flour.

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16 comments:

grace said...

dessert is one thing i very rarely share, and it tickles me that your mother-in-law was so upfront about it. :)
red velvet is something i don't love, by the way, which i'm pretty sure goes against every southern bone in my body. :)

shaz said...

oooh yum! they look sooo cute! You've moved this up to my must-try list.

KAF Customer Service said...

Thank you for sharing this wonderful blog. While we aren't magical, we are glad to be part of baking and baking education through our blog and others too.

Thanks again, and Happy Baking!

MaryJane @ King Arthur Flour

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

I have a sister-in-law that would not share desserts recipes and one day when she was gone shopping I found her recipe book and copied the most delicious ones. You made nice dessert.

Sophie said...

I just love how they're mini. I bet they fit perfectly in Belle's little hand. I also have a sweet tooth that has a mind of its own, I give into it way too much sometimes :).

Anonymous said...

Such cute cupcakes, love the little flowers on top! It's an interesting question about how one gets a sweet tooth and also it may change as one gets older. My husband had a huge sweet tooth as a child but now his idea of dessert is a cheese course :)

holly_44109 said...

Red Velvet is my most favorite cake. My grandmother used to make it for Christmas every year.

What are those little flower decorations?

Jamie said...

I've never used cake flour. I always stick with my all-purpose flour. Your cupcakes look very yummy.

FoodJunkie said...

Do you mean she won't share her recipes? God, I hate that! I mean the food-blogging revolution would never had started if people thought like that! And you know it is mainly bakers who do it. Anyway, I always wondered why it is traditional in a recipe to add food colouring. I think I will skip on that step, it doesn't add to the taste anyway!

Johanna GGG said...

love the pic of the red food dye swirls in the bowl - red velvet cakes is something I constantly intend to make and get distracted by other baking - and I get a little scared by all the food dye

Kana said...

There are days that I do not feel like sharing my dessert ;)

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Cute! They look delicious!

Cheers,

Rosa

Dewi said...

I heard so much of a good thing about red velvet cake. Never made it myself, but very tempted~

Your cupcakes look stunning!

lisaiscooking said...

I think my sweet tooth comes and goes, but when it's here, it's serious. Red velvet sounds great, and testing all that flour sounds like fun!

Reeni said...

What cute little treats! So prettily decorated! I have yet to meet a red velvet cake that I liked - which I find strange - I have a serious sweet-tooth, especially for cakes. But it could be I just haven't found the right recipe.

Chats the Comfy Cook said...

Those cupcakes are so pretty.