Last week Pat’s school was having a potluck. He asked if I would mind making something. Really? Of course, I wanted to make something. I went back and forth trying to figure out what the perfect treat would be and finally settled on mini cupcakes. I’ve always thought that bite-size sweets work really well at potlucks and parties. It allows people to have something sweet, even if they’re full of all of the other food.
About a month ago I won a giveaway over at My Baking Addiction. My prize was two large piping tips and some plain brown cupcake liners from Bake it Pretty. I was excited to win a prize (it’s always fun to win something), but honestly wasn’t sure when I’d use the piping tips. When I bake my top priority is always taste, and piping frosting seems like extra work with no additional flavor. Boy was I wrong. With the giant piping tips I was able to frost these mini cupcakes in half the time, and they looked so pretty!
If you’ve never made mini cupcakes I have a tip for you. Halve the recipe. The recipe I used yields 35 cupcakes. I halved the recipe and ended up with 62 mini cupcakes. You’ll get a least three times as many mini cupcakes from a recipe versus regular size cupcakes. If you’re trying to halve a recipe and it calls for an odd number of eggs use the trick above. Take one egg and mix it up in a bowl, pour the egg into a measuring cup with tablespoon measure. Then pour out half.
Another tip for making minis. Buy cupcake liners. I use them for all sizes of cupcakes, but they’re especially important with minis. At the very most your cupcake pan will yield 24 mini cupcakes. You’ll likely have enough batter for many more cupcakes. Using the liners will allow you to easily remove your cooked cupcakes and continue using the pan. Mini cupcake liners aren’t as readily available as the standard size. I suggest buying a few packs when you find them.
These guys are all packed and ready to go. If you’re wondering if I brought these to work on my bike, I didn’t. Cupcakes get really messy when you bring them by bike. And I was so proud of how cute they looked.
Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes
Yield: 62 mini cupcakes or 18 full size
Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour (I ran out of cake flour so I used 1 1/4 cups cake flour and 1/2 cup of all-purpose. They were still great.)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
- 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 cups canola oil
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. granulated sugar
- 1.5 large eggs (see tip above)
- 1 bottle of red food coloring
- 3/4 teaspoon. vanilla
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 1/4 teaspoons white vinegar. I used apple cider vinegar. I don’t think it makes any difference.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper liners.
Whisk cake flour, cocoa, and salt in a bowl.
Place oil and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With the machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (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.
Using a small ice cream scoop fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake pans one at a time. I find that when you put two pans in the oven the cupcakes cook unevenly. They will take 12 to 13 minutes to cook fully. When the cakes bounce back when you press on the top your cupcakes are done.
My Favorite Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 stick of butter at room temperature.
- 2 cups of confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Beat the butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix until combined. On low speed lowly add the confectioner’s sugar and beat until combined. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Add the cream cheese and mix until just combined.
