Brownies

As kids, my siblings and I, together with our mom, would bake every Saturday. From scratch, we would make simple things such as brownies, cookies, and one time, upside-down cake. Each of us was so eager to be the one to mix this, fold this, beat this, what-have-you. We were caught up in the magic of creating something YUMMY with your own hands. In these Saturday nights, we learned that patience and hard work bring good results. When the scent of whatever we were baking for the night would start wafting from the kitchen, we would all feel so good about what we had "created" and that we had done it right.

As the years passed, we all got so busy and caught up with our own lives. We moved homes and got a new oven which stayed neglected. Until one day, a friend started blogging about her own baking adventures. I remembered the fun baking experiences I had as a kid and got jealous, so I decided to start baking again. I was unsure though whether the long-neglected oven would still work properly and I could not get my siblings to join in so I was on my own this time. I decided to just give it a try with something simple where I would not exert much effort in case the oven indeed didn't work. So I got a box of White King Brownie Mix (support local!) from the grocery and was so glad they turned out perfectly:

And that marks the start of my baking "career." :)

Not-Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red velvet cupcakes have been quite the trend for the past 24 months or so. Chocolate + cream cheese--how could you possibly go wrong?! What really bothers me though is the rich red color. What is up with that anyways? Haha.

So when I finally found the time to make mine, I excluded the red food coloring and came up with these wonderful *not-red* velvet cuppies. Yay. :)

 My ingredients (support local!):

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 12-cupcake pans with cupcake liners and spray with cooking spray.

Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

 Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended.

Beat in eggs one at a time.

[This one I skipped:] With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring (and water or syrup, if necessary). (Take care: it may splash.)

Add vanilla.

Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.

Divide batter among 12-cupcake pans, filling each about 2/3 full. [I only had ingredients for 3/4 of the recipe so was only able to make 9 cuppies. *Tear.*]

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the frosting:

Place room temperature butter, cream cheese, and vanilla into mixer and blend for 1-2 minutes on medium until fully incorporated.

Add powder sugar, one cup at a time, until frosting is light and creamy.

Thanks to dontaskmetosmile for sharing the recipes (red velvet cupcake and cream cheese frosting).