Red Velvet Marbled Cheesecake Cupcakes.

If your mouth doesn't water when reading the title of this blog, I just want to let you know, there is a world you need to discover, and it's called red velvet cheesecake! These were SOOO yummy!

They might look a little funny and uneven, but the taste will definitely make up for that, and with a dash of cream cheese frosting on top....heaven. I'm first going to share the recipe with you and then give a rundown of my experience in making them, along with any helpful tips I can think of.



Red Velvet & Cheesecake Marbled Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 325F and put muffin papers or silicone cups in 12 muffin cups.

Orange Cheesecake

• 1 four oz package of cream cheese (not low fat)
• 2 tablespoons of freshly grated orange peel
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Beat together until creamy and well blended. Do not whip because you don’t want to incorporate air.

Red Velvet Cake

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
• 4 tablespoons food grade red food color
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup whole milk buttermilk (do not get skim or low fat)
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar (it has less flavor than any other type)

1. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well.
3. Use a rubber scraper to pull any remaining butter mixture off the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl. Mix again until well blended.
4. In a separate bowl mix the food color and the cocoa until it makes a paste.
5. Add the cocoa mixture to the butter mixture and mix until it is evenly blended. Spoon through to check for streaks.
6. Add 1/4 cup of the buttermilk and beat on low speed until blended.
7. Add half of the flour and blend.
8. Add the remaining buttermilk, blend and then add the remaining flour. Now stir in the baking soda and vinegar until blended.

Assemble

1. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 the way with the red velvet batter.
2. Add a tablespoon or so of cheesecake batter to the top.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until cupcakes are firm to the touch. Don’t overbake!
4. Cool completely.

First of all YES there is a hint of orange in the cheesecake, I liked the citrus twist it added, but obviously yes, the orange can also be optional.

Second, when purchasing the red food coloring, you need to purchase the LARGER bottle, I only had a small one and it only gave me about 2 tablespoons, so I had to adjust the cocoa a bit to make sure it still became a paste.

Third, DONT FREAK OUT when you pour the vinegar into the mix at step 8 and it bubbles, it's normal!

My fourth and last tip would have to be if you really really really like cheesecake, like me, I would double the cheesecake recipe. That would allow for you to have an equal layer of cake and also cheesecake.

That's about all my tips and tricks I have for you, sprinkle with cocoa and enjoy!

Rose Cupcakes.

How adorable are these?! I wanted to add a little bit of pizazz to my everyday, ordinary cupcakes and thought, "Why not roses?!"

The red rose is piped on top of a mini cupcake and the white is piped on a regular cupcake. If you're a beginner, I suggest you start with mini cupcakes. It's less cupcake to work with and frankly, I like it better than the larger rose.

I'm posting a link of the Wilton Step-By-Step rose making guide below, I feel that they're more precise and detailed than I would be at trying to tell you how in the world I did this. Now obviously, my roses are a little different and a lot bigger, but that's because I piped my rose directly onto the top of the cupcake, however, I did still start with the base in step 1 and 2 of the guide, my base was just a little wider and not as tall.

NOTE: you do need a rose tip (or 104 as Wilton says). I did not use the round tip (tip 12), I simply just used the rose tip, but held it flat against the cupcake and piped a small little mountain.

One of the coolest things I think you can make with rose cupcakes, or any other flower cupcake for that matter, is a cupcake bouquet! They are fantastic, and actually look like real flowers! Hopefully I will make one in the near future and share it with all of you grand followers!

Without further adue, here is the link so you can start piping your cupcake roses today! Good Luck!

http://www.wilton.com/technique/Roses