Martha Stewart's Red Velvet cake

Today I made Martha Stewart's Red Velvet Cupcakes.

The Husbandman's Ranking: 8
The Little Wife's Ranking: 8.5

Pros
     Clear and simple directions
     The taste is subtle, not too chocolaty, not too sweet
     My mom says this recipe looks a lot more like the red velvet she grew up with (the others were apparently too red)
     Just an all-round good recipe.

Cons
     The batter was very, very runny, which as you know makes me nervous, but it all turned out OK.
     The husbandman says that he doesn't like my icing as much as cream cheese icing, which sparked a debate on the proper icing to use on red velvet, but that was the thing he didn't like about it.
     And it doesn't use butter or Crisco, but rather a lot of vegetable oil, which isn't wrong, just a little weird.

Other Notes

    Well rather than ranting at you, I thought I might show you.  Since Martha doesn't have many pictures of the finished result, let alone a walk through (like Pioneer Woman's) I thought I would take you through step by step. Ok?





Step 1:
     Preheat the Oven and line your cupcake pan. Pretty Easy stuff.

Step 2:
     Gather your ingredients.

Step 3:
     Sift your flour.  I have a sifter, but it's in the dark and shadowy realm of storage, so when I'm at my parent's I just use a strainer, (it is actually easier, it just doesn't feel quite so professional)

     It should look like this when you are done, light and fluffy!

     Then whisk in your cocoa powders and your salt. (Poor husbandman had a half day at work, and came home just in time to be roped into helping so that I could take pictures.)

Step 4:
     In your mixer (or a separate bowl) add your sugar,

       and your vegatable oil

      And mix until combined (this whole not using butter thing is weird, but go with it)

     Then beat in your eggs and vanilla

     And the food coloring paste (if you are looking for it Walmart, it is not with the baking goods, but rather with the cake supplies in the party section.  It's much cheaper than buying the liquid, and it goes much, much further.)

Step 5:
     Add a third of your flour mixture

Then half of the buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, just add a tablespoon of lemon juice to regular milk and let it sit a few minutes) Then add the second third of your flour, then the rest of your buttermilk, and then the rest of your flour. (This keeps it from exploding flour in your face, (yes, I know from experience) or forming a glooppy mess.)

Step 6:
In a separate small bowl, add your baking soda to you vinegar.  It will fizzle and bubble and is always fun to watch. Then add it to your mixing bowl and beat it on low just until barely combined.  Some recipes even say to fold it in instead of mixing it.

Step 7:
     Somehow get the batter into the cupcake liners.  This is easier said than done, especially if you are using mini cupcake pans. I found the easiest way was to use a ladle.

Step 8:
     Bake for 20 min.

Then let them cool fully and ice them!

Step 9:
Celebrate with a cupcake!