red velvet cupcakes

One day out of the blue, The Boy made a very strange request -- he wanted me to make him some red velvet cupcakes. It's a strange request because: 1) he does not eat sweets; 2) he has never asked me to make any kind of dessert for him; and 3) he was very adamant about using this cupcake mix from Crate & Barrel.

I was glad he wanted me to use a cupcake mix instead of making it from scratch because I was studying for the bar and really didn't want to spend a whole day making red velvet cupcakes from scratch. With the prepackaged mix, I could just add eggs and water and mix away! The mix was Barefoot Contessa's recipe.

The recipe said it was for 10 cupcakes, but I managed to have a little extra for a mini-cupcake of sorts. However, I was not working with a familiar oven, as I was living in a sublet for the summer. So I kept wondering if it was odd that the cupcakes were OVERflowing too much over the top.

I had to use two types of frosting because The Boy does not like cream cheese frosting, so he wanted me to improvise with the frosting choices. The Barefoot Contessa's mix came with powdered sugar for the cream cheese frosting. I made it anyway because cream cheese frosting is what goes on red velvet cupcakes. I then bought one of those Sara Lee pre-made frosting, the sugar free whipped brand and chose the Whip Cream frosting flavor.
Since I knew he couldn't eat two cupcakes in one sitting, I made this one especially for The Boy, half with the cream cheese frosting and half with the whipped cream frosting. The verdict -- he liked the whipped cream frosting much better.

The Boy requested red velvet cupcakes and I delivered. However, he ended up eating only three or four cupcakes, and I had the rest. Not that I'm complaining or anything.

Now that I have more time on my hands, maybe I'll make some cupcakes tomorrow. Good idea!