The Magnificent Mini

Oh, not the skirt, I'm far too old for that. No, I am talking about bite-sized treats. I was asked to make some things for a reception at church and I decided to make some mini desserts. Today I made some pecan tassies and some mini red velvet cupcakes. I used Martha Stewart's recipe and it made a lot, A LOT of minis...105.

The problems with this is that these suckers are labor intensive. Easy, but I spent a lot of time on my feet.

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon red gel-paste food color
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cake flour, cocoa, and salt.
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in food color and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and whisking well after each. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will foam); add mixture to the batter, and mix on medium speed 10 seconds.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting.

This is how you cool baked goods when you have two very curious cats.


I was not pleased with the color. I used 1/2 tsp of gel color, but I think that I got more on me than in the cake.



Frosting

12 oz room temperature cream cheese
1 c room temperature butter
1 lb XXX sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla and cream until smooth.

The finished product.


So, for now, I am going to put my feet up and drink some tea, and watch some tv.