red velvet failure

Yesterday I tried to make red velvet cupcakes with mascarpone/cream cheese icing. I say that I tried, this web and I guess one could say that I succeeded because I did, anesthetist in fact, produce cupcakes. But they weren’t what I wanted. The cake was too greasy, the icing not stiff enough. Everything was just so eh, when red velvet cupcakes should be anything but eh. Red velvet cupcakes should be everything but eh. But, eh they were. And my faith in nytimes.com recipes in somewhat diminished. I’ll try again at some point — with less oil in the cake batter, less whipped cream in the icing.

On a side note – do you know how much food coloring a red velvet cake requires? NINE (that’s 9!) little bottles. Am I the only one that finds that absurd? Granted, the 1 bottle I used barely changed the color of the cupcakes, resulting a slightly reddish brown hue. But, still, nine is ridiculous.

Discouraged from sweets, I’ll soon try baking a cheddar jalepeno bread that’s in this month’s Gourmet. Hopefully, with better results.