Red Velvet Cupcakes #64

In general, desserts are not really my thing.  I am more of a salty appetizer fan than I am a sweets fan.  I would usually much rather have more spinach dip with chips than cheesecake.  With all that said, there are some desserts that I truly love, and one of my favorites has always been red velvet cake.  The absolute best I've ever had was at Litton's in Knoxville, TN.  While most known for it's burgers, it has heavenly desserts as well.  Litton's was once featured on ESPN's Taste of the Town.  I've looked at lots of recipes in the past, even tried one, but nothing positive has come out of all that.  As most of you know, I am not a baker.  Last week, I accidentally found this recipe on allrecipes.com.  It is by far the easiest red velvet cake recipe I've found that still has lots of good reviews.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it... I think I'll get to cooking now!

The case:

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 (1 ounce) bottle McCormick® Red Food Color
• 2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 (16 ounce) box confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. 
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. 
4. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. 
5. Spoon batter into 30 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full. 
6. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. 
7. Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat cream cheese, softened, butter, sour cream and McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth.
8. Frost with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.  

The ruling:
I baked these too long but besides that they were perfect!  These will be a new regular in our house!

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