Cakes vs. Cupcakes

Tis the season for love, or at least that is what I say the week of Valentine's Day!! I know that I have been talking a lot about this low/no carb diet that that I have been on with a buddy, but that goes out the window when you make red velvet cake for V-Day. Although the official name of this recipe is Red Velvet, it should be Devil's Food because they are sinfully good. I have made a different Red Velvet Cake recipe a couple of times, but since I was making cupcakes I decided to go with an actual RV Cupcake recipe. The major difference was that this recipe called for oil instead of butter. Most of the cakes that I make use oil for their fat so I was cool with it. Once I made the first batch I knew that the original recipe was better. Since I was not using butter I did not cream the fat and sugar together to make a wonderfully light and fluffy amalgam of fat and sugar. Oil does not have the same whipping ability that butter does, so I knew they would be slightly different. The two significant differences that I found were a slight taste difference (not as rich) and texture. The butter in the original recipe produces this insanely smooth and dense texture that is truly like velvet. You really cannot get enough!! The cupcake recipe was a bit fluffier with larger air pockets in the cakes. I have to confess that I opted to revert to the original recipe so that I could have some of that devilish goodness, plus the first two batches were being exported out of the house for others to consume. You make the best for the ones you love!!



The other difference that I did not mention in the recipes is the flour. I know that many people are intimidated by the variety of options that await you as you peruse down the baking isle. The cake flour, which typically comes in a box, is often overlooked because it is not in a bag. Cake flour is a much finer flour than all purpose flour and has less flour proteins. It is the over beating of flour protein that produces a tough chewy texture. The cake flour allows you to produce an amazing texture that is soft and smooth. You just can't get that with all purpose flour. The thing that you must be aware of though is that you need more cake flour than all purpose flour if you are substituting cake flour in a recipe. I know that cake flour is more expensive, but when you only make these cakes a couple times a year, it is WELL worth it. There are some recipes that you know will stick with you forever. This recipe is one of them. The moral of the story here is that cakes and cupcakes are not exactly the same thing. You cannot say that cupcakes are simply just smaller cakes. The recipes are often different and do not produce the same results. I would say that you just use trial and error, but to say that these RV cupcakes were an error would be a lie. They were amazing, just not AS amazing as the original.




The cream cheese frosting truly the icing on these cakes and I found the dusting of coco to be a nice little addition. A flavor enhancer you might say. Often times it is the little things that make people say, WOW. What can you do to spice up one of your recipes or baked goods? Bake on people!!