Wednesday was my birthday. I am now closer to 40, than I was to 30. That’s ok though, I don’t mind getting older. When you’ve been through all the health problems that we have, being here yet another year is a fantastic thing. My birthday has become pretty low-key since it is so soon after Christmas. My parents always did a good job when I was growing up of keeping them separate affairs. I never associated my birthday with Christmas when I was a kid and that was a good thing, it made me feel special. 🙂
This year I just decided to make a nice dinner at home and bake some cupcakes. I have to work this weekend, so my husband is planning on taking me out next weekend to my favorite restaurant. I was excited to make cupcakes because I got some great cupcake items from my parents for Christmas this year. Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes, an Oneida cupcake carrier and a cupcake scoop. The cupcake carrier is nice because the bottom is a standard cupcake/muffin pan that you can bake in. It has a second tier that is plastic and just holds cupcakes. It then has a lid that securely snaps on. The scoop also worked wonderfully. I usually would use a 1/4 cup measure, and then spoon it into the pans to get uniform cupcakes. This just streamlines the process.
If you can’t tell already, my favorite color is red. So I decided to make something I’ve never made before, red velvet cake. A recipe from McCormick caught my eye and so I decided my birthday would be the perfect time to try out my new cupcake stuff. The Red Velvet Cupcakes turned out pretty good, although I was a little disappointed because they were a little dry (I give the recipe 4 stars). If you make the recipe, I would recommend reducing the flour by 1/4 cup. The frosting was amazing though. My husband took the leftovers to work with him (the main reason I wanted a cupcake carrier) and one of his coworkers said something about the frosting being like “heroin.” He has weird coworkers.
I love Cupcake wines too! And your Red Velvet Cupcakes look fabulous 🙂 Happy belated B-day!
I never heard of the Cupcake wine before. Happy Birthday to you, Dianne! Your cupcakes look perfect and I see you getting use of your new piping bags and tips. Those cookie scoops are a kitchen must have in my book. I own them in several sizes from very small to jumbo. They are also great for putting icing into your piping bag. I scoop up my icing and simply drop it by the scoop into my piping bag. I also use them scoops for scooping whipped cream to put into my lattes, etc…
Happy belated Birthday Dianne!!! Your dinner looks fantastic!