Let's Play Ball For Father's Day! - Red Velvet Baseball Cupcakes

I've made many orders of cupcakes the last few weeks, but they were all variations on a theme of what I've done before.  Yesterday, however, I made some baseball cupcakes for a boys' birthday party at Yankee Stadium.  How FUN does that sound?!!  This was new design for me.  Pretty simple, and, of course, I had ideas how to improve on them them while I was in the process of putting them together so this will be a fun project to do again.

I've made (and posted about) Red Velvet Cupcakes...and I still SWEAR by the recipe I use.  It's absolutely delicious and has been an overwhelming success every time.  The color is such a lovely, deep red which an amazing hint-of-chocolate taste.  The Cream Cheese Frosting I usually top it off with is incredible, too.  In fact, it's often the star of the Red Velvet Cupcakes - such a winning combination (you can find the recipe here).  However, in this case I was asked to make a barely sweet icing so I decided to go with something a little different - Mascarpone Frosting.  I made the Mascarpone version for Tiramisu Cupcakes I baked a few weeks ago.  With only 1/2 cup of sugar I thought it could be a wonderful compliment to red velvet.  Turns out, I was right!

Okay, so here's how you make the cupcakes:

Sprinkles Copycat Red Velvet Cupcakes

Followed to a "T" from Carrot Top Mom

2 1/2 cups flour (I used all-purpose)

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch processed)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with 2 teaspoons lemon juice)

1 ounce red food coloring

4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare baking pans with cupcake liners.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In separate bowl, beat butter and sugar using electric mixer until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Add sour cream and milk, beating until well combined.  Lastly, add vanilla extract and red food coloring.

In three increments, add flour mixture.  Beat until just combined, do not overbeat.  Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick come out clean.  Let cool for 15 minutes and remove from pan.  Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Adding red dye to creamed ingredients

Red color of creamed ingredients with red dye

Slightly brownish red color of combined creamed and dry ingredients

The Mascarpone Frosting could NOT be easier to make:

Mascarpone Frosting

1 cup heavy whipping cream

8 oz.  Mascarpone Cheese

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

Using an electric mixer, whip heavy cream until if forms stiff peaks (about 5 minutes).

Add cream to the bowl

After 1 minute of mixing

After 2 minutes of mixing

After 3 minutes of mixing

After 4 minutes of mixing

After 5 minutes of mixing

Consistency thick enough to not fall off of spatula

In a separate bowl, beat together mascarpone cheese and sugar.  Once they are completely combined, add whipped cream incrementally:

Add in increments - I added in three

Finished Frosting

I frosted the cupcakes as smoothly as I could, letting them set a few minutes after the initial icing to "crust" a little bit.  Then I went over the rough spots once more.  It's not a silky smooth icing.  It's really ideal for piping rather than smoothing, so it's not going to look perfect.  Once they were all frosted I used the red buttercream icing and piped half moons on each side of the cupcake with a #3 piping tip.

Next, I piped a "stitching" effect on the half circles.  This was a bit challenging, as the buttercream did not want to stick to the mascarpone icing.  I used a toothpick to coax everything into place.

They are playful and fun, but I am planning to experiment a bit more.  One thing I'd like to do is making the "stitching" "V's" a bit smaller.  I will use a smaller piping tip and make the buttercream icing a little less stiff so it will cooperate more.  I had some leftover cucpakes, which I piped some Mascarpone Icing onto and decorated with some red M&M Minis:

And then, like all good bakers do, I sampled one to make sure they were okay:

SSOOOOOO GOOD!!!!  A word of caution - if you use the Mascarpone Cheese icing, place the M&M's on at the very last minute.  The icing drained the candy color of it's red and by the next day they looked a stained mess!  Otherwise, the M&M's add a nice effect and a bit of sweetness to compliment the icing.  Anyway you make them you will love them!