Life is SWEET!

Happy Valentine's Day! I made these yummy cupcakes for my simply sewing class for a treat Tuesday night. I haven't used this recipe for a very long time. RED VELVET CUPCAKES, yum. This is one of my mom's recipes. She would make red velvet cakes for our birthday's. I always wondered how she got the cake batter so red. Dah! one whole bottle of red food coloring would do the trick. Then the delicious cream cheese frosting on it would just make it that much better. I love pulling out my mom's recipes, she really has some good ones in her collection. Thanks for the memories Mom. With some of the left over batter I made these cute little heart cakes to take to the ladies I work with. I ordered this pan from the Current magazine years ago and just barely opened it to make these. I wonder why I haven't used it before now. They turned out so cute. They were a hit at work.

Here is the recipe for my Mom's red velvet cake batter:

1 to 2 oz. Red food coloring

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. soda

2 eggs

1 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vinegar

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Make a paste of cocoa and red food coloring. Add to creamed mixture. Then mix salt alternately with flour. Last, fold in soda and vinegar. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes in either two layers or dripper pan, greased and floured. You can also use regular milk with a tablespoon of vinegar in it in place of buttermilk.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting:

Beat 1 package (8oz.) softened cream cheese

4 tbsp. softened butter

2 tbsp. sour cream

2 tsp. vanilla extract

in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in 1 box (16 oz.) powdered sugar on medium speed until smooth.