Red Velvet Cupcakes

Last week I made these delicious Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean-Cream Cheese Frosting for my mom's book club from Paula Deen's Holiday Baking Issue. They were amazing! I then topped them with an idea I'd seen in Martha Stewart Living called "Broken Glass Cupcakes". I thought I'd share as they were a great treat with a fun Halloween twist!

Red Velvet Cupcake Ingredients:
(makes 2 dozen cupcakes)
-1 cup butter, softened
-2 cups sugar
-1 tablespoon vanilla extract
-3 large eggs
-1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup buttermilk
-1/2 cup sour cream
-one 1oz bottle red food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla at medium speed with a mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vinegar.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition. Stir in sour cream and food coloring.

4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling two-thirds full. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

Vanilla Bean-Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
(makes about 5 cups - note: I had A LOT left over but I'm not one to pile on the icing)
-3/4 cup butter, softened
-one 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
-1 tablespoon vanilla extract
-1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, seeds reserved
-4 cups confectioners' sugar (note: Paula called for 7 cups but that seemed like so much to me and it was already very sweet)

1. In a large bowl, beat butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean seeds at medium speed with a mixer until creamy. Gradually add confectioner's sugar, beating until smooth.
2. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Ingredients for the caramel (which will become the 'broken glass"):
-1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
-3/4 cup water

 

1. Bring the granulated sugar and water to a boil in a small high-sided saucepan, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium-high, and cook until mixture just starts to turn pale gold around the edges. Remove from heat, and immediately pour caramel onto a rimmed baking sheet. Working quickly, tilt pan to spread caramel to edges to make a very thin layer. Let cool to harden.

*I find caramel extremely difficult to make (but I've only made two dishes involving it). I never noticed it turn a pale gold around the edges and I made the batch twice. The first time, I kept stirring and the second time I stopped after it began to boil (which I'd read to do online). It took a long time for it to thicken and I finally gave up waiting for it to change color and poured it out onto the sheet. Luckily, it worked. Oh, and when they say work quickly, they mean it! It hardened very fast and I wasn't able to create as thin a layer as I would have liked.

 

2. Twist pan to release and break caramel in order for it to resemble broken glass. (I then set it aside as it made the caramel the day before. My caramel became cloudy and didn't look as pretty as Martha's (but it surprisingly tasted good!)). Place a shard or two of caramel "glass" in the center of each cupcake. Drizzle or pipe cherry preserves where caramel has entered the cupcake.
*I used red gel frosting

The results were pure deliciousness! Everyone in my mom's book club had one and took one home for later. My dad had one and he sat down and took a bite and said, "These are pretty good." And he continued eating and it evolved into "Oh man, these are **** good!" and he got another one :) ... and another one :D

Please note, this was my first attempt at piping! I'll do better next time!

I'm participating in the Craft-O-Maniac Monday Link Party! Head on over to see the other blogs and their great fall ideas!!