Traveling Cupcake Sandwiches

So as Valentine's day is approaching, I wanted to send Ben some cupcakes since I won't be able to see him on the actual day. But he is visiting this weekend! Yay! Anyways, cupcakes are not an easy thing to mail. They get all soggy in the mail, not to mention the frosting disaster zone of whatever container you mail them in. So I raked my brain for a bit to figure out how I could send some cupcakes up to Spokane without them being super gross by the time they arrived. Apparently they arrived just as delicious as ever because they were gobbled up before the "people eating my cupcakes" pictures could be taken. But, I can only assume these were the lovely bunch who ate them!

I'm so excited they liked them!!

Anyways, in the spirit of the holiday, I made a simple red velvet cupcake with a vanilla cream cheese frosting. The original recipe was from Baker Chick but as always, I added my own little twist.

CAKE:

4 T Room Temperature butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

3 T cocoa powder

Enough red food coloring to give the batter a glossy red color 

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

1 1/2 t white vinegar

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy on medium high speed. Add the egg and mix until incorporated. In a separate small bowl mix the cocoa powder, vanilla, and red food coloring to make a thick paste (NOTE: I had to add about a tablespoon of water to the mixture, but I was using gel food coloring instead of liquid). Add the paste to the butter mixture and blend until well combined. Alternate adding parts of the flour and buttermilk and mix to combine. Mix until smooth. Add the salt, baking soda, and vinegar and mix for a few more second to make sure everything is combined and fluffy. Divide the batter among a lined cupcake tin and fill the cups FULL. I'm talking 3/4 full so they puff over and you can slice off the top for your sandwich. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Let them cool completely before frosting or sandwiching.

FROSTING:

1/2 stick butter at room temperature

8 oz package of cream cheese (softened)

2 1/2 Cups powdered sugar

2 T Vanilla extract

Beat the butter and cream cheese until fluffy and voluptuous. Add the half the powdered sugar and the vanilla and mix until combined. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and beat until creamy and light and fluffy. And voila! Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.

Once the cupcakes are cool, use a small, sharp knife (I used a paring knife and that worked really well) and slice the top of the cupcake off. Slather the decapitated cupcake with frosting and place the head back on. 

Ben said the frosting didn't get EVERYWHERE mid shipment and they still tasted good despite being a few days after I baked them. I'm totally using this sandwiching technique to mail cupcakes again. Plus they just look so cute! Marissa ate one when they were fresh and said "the cake. The cake. The actual cake was my favorite. it was just so dense but also fluffy. I don't know. They tasted so good in my mouth." I'm taking that as a compliment.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

xoxo,

KG