Teeny Takes Over My Kitchen

"All I ever wanted in life was true love, a set of copper cookware,

and the perfect recipe for red velvet cake" 

Teeny Templeton

     Teeny Templeton magically appeared in our home this week when the UPS man brought me a copy of Michael Lee West's latest book, Gone With A Handsomer Man. Thank you so much Michael! I've just started reading the book, but I already know that Teeny and I will get along just fine. She lives in Charleston, SC...one of my favorite cities. She also picked out an apple walnut salad and a wedge of brie when planning a summer evenig meal...I would chose the same things. Imagine my surprise when I found that Teeny had slipped into my kitchen, raided my recipe box and tried out my recipe for red velvet cake. Considering it is Easter week, she opted for cupcakes all decked out for the holiday. I wonder if she thinks it is the "perfect recipe"! 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk or 1 cup milk with 1 T. white vinegar added and allowed to sit a few minutes
2 eggs
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

(Teeny made 18 larger cupcakes)

     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.

     Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined. Pour batter into the cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 to 22 minutes. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
2-8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

Beat together with mixer until creamy. Chill until ready to use. Remove from refrigerator a little while before frosting and allow to soften a little bit.

This makes enough frosting for the cupcakes with enough leftover to ice a 9x13 cake as well.

     Many of us know Michael from her blog Designs by Gollum and our weekly Foodie Friday parties. She is also the author of six novels, including Crazy Ladies, Mad Girls in Love, American Pie, and She Flew the Coop, as well as a food memoir, Consuming Passions. She lives with her husband on a farm in Lebanon, Tennessee, with three bratty Yorkshire terriers, a Chinese crested, assorted donkeys, chickens, sheep, and African Pygmy goats. Her faithful dog Zap was the inspiration of a character in Mermaids in the Basement.