Red Velvet Cupcake

For this recipe you will need:

•     2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
•     1 1/2 cups sugar
•     1 teaspoon baking soda
•     1 teaspoon salt
•     1 teaspoon cocoa powder
•     1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
•     1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
•     2 large eggs, room temperature
•     2 tablespoons red food coloring
•     1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
•     1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

•     1 pound cream cheese, softened
•     2 sticks butter, softened
•     1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•     4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
•     Chopped pecans and fresh raspberries or strawberries, for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.
3. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.
4. For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
5. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.
6. Garnish with chopped pecans and a fresh raspberry or strawberry.

*** Recipe was taken from foodnetwork.com

Strawberry Cupcake Mousse

For this recipe, you will need:

• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups vanilla soy milk
• 2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. organic sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
• Mix the vinegar and soy milk together and set aside.
• Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
• In another bowl, stir together the soy milk mixture, the canola oil, and the vanilla extract and add to the dry ingredients, mixing well.
• Fill each cupcake liner about two-thirds full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
• Let cool in the cupcake pan for 5 minutes, then remove and place on a wire rack. Let cool completely before frosting.

For the filling you will need:

• 2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 cup organic apple juice
• 1/4 cup organic unbleached granulated sugar
• 4 tsp. cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

• Place the strawberries and apple juice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the strawberries soften.
• While stirring, slowly add the sugar. Dissolve the cornstarch in the water and add to the saucepan. Heat until thickened, being careful not to boil.
• Remove from the heat. While still warm, blend briefly with a hand blender, creating the consistency of a very thick purée. If you do not have a hand blender, use a traditional blender instead.
• Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until jelly-like.

For the mousse you will need:

1 cup vegan margarine
1/4 cup nonfat soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4-5 Tbsp. prepared strawberry filling
5-6 cups organic powdered sugar
1 drop red food coloring (optional)

Directions:

• Beat the margarine until creamy. Add the soy milk, vanilla, and strawberry filling and mix well. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the food coloring, if desired. Beat for 5 to 10 minutes.

To assemble:
• Cut a cone-shaped piece out of the top of each cupcake. Fill with 1 to 2 teaspoons of the strawberry filling. Replace the cupcake top and frost with the strawberry mousse.

Makes 16 cupcakes

***Recipe was borrowed from: www.peta.org

Choco Lava

For this recipe you will need:

• 6 ounces chocolate – unsweetened or semi-sweet, chopped
• 6 tablespoons butter, plus 1 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour

Directions:

1)  In the top of a double boiler over simmering water, melt together the chocolate and the butter. Preheat oven to 400F.  Meanwhile, butter 4 ramekins with a tablespoon of butter.

2)  In a small mixing bowl, beat the eggs well. Once the chocolate has melted, remove from heat and stir in the sugar.Temper the eggs (tempering means you slowly raise the temperature of something) by adding a tablespoon of melted chocolate at at time, beating after each addition, until you’ve added about 1/4 of the chocolate. At that point you can go ahead and add the remainder of the chocolate to the egg mixture.

3)  Mix in the flour, making sure it’s well incorporated.  Pour the batter equally into the ramekins.  Bake for 10 minutes. The exterior will be set, but the interior will be ‘molten’. Invert each ramekin onto a plate and allow it sit for a couple of minutes.  Lift the ramekin after two minutes then dress up your cakes with fresh raspberries or any fruits in season.

Citrus-Kissed Cakes

Did you know that orange zest can help relieve heart burn?  The d-limonene that comprises over 90 percent of orange peel oil has been shown to neutralize gastric acid.  Here’s a simply delicious way to enjoy the peel.

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 box (18.25 oz.) French vanilla cake mix
• 1/3 cup melted salted butter
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• 1 box (2.4 oz.) instant strawberry or vanilla mousse mix
• 1/4 cup seedless strawberry preserves, melted, or toasted coconut flakes

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F.  Prepare cake mix according to package directions, substituting butter for vegetable oil and adding orange zest.  divide batter evenly among cupcake liners placed in two 12-well cupcake pans.  Bake 18 minutes, or until done.  Let cool completely.  Prepare mousse mix according to package directions.  Spoon mousse into pastry bag fitted with large star tip; pipe onto top of each cupcake.  Drizzle preserves or sprinkle coconut over cupcakes.  Chill until ready to serve.

Cookies ‘n Cream Cupcakes

Cheesecake or cupcake?  I’d say both!

1)  Heat oven to 325°F.  In bowl, combine 10 chocolate sandwich cookies, ground, and 2 tablespoons each sugar and melted butter.

2)  Divide mixture evenly among 12 paper-lined muffin cups, press to form crusts.  In bowl of electric mixer, beat 2 containers (8 oz. each) whipped cream cheese and 1/3 cup sugar 2 minutes.  Add 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each.  Stir in 8 chocolate sandwich cookies, chopped, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

3)  Divide cream cheese mixture evenly among prepared muffin cups.  Bake 20 minutes or until center is almost set.  Cool completely.  Garnish with whipped topping and cookie halves or roughly crushed cookie sandwiches, if desired.