Red Velvet Cupcakes

These were excellent. Super moist, held together well, tasted exactly like red velvet. I think what took it over the top was that instead of using red dye or a plant alternative, I used a red velvet bakery emulsion I got at a specialty shop.

The recipe has a few lacunal hiccups. It instructs you to mix the wet and dry ingredients, then skips to bake time with no instructions to combine them first. Another oddity is the yield was supposed to be 14 cupcakes. My muffin tin is a 12 cup, and from looking on Amazon, that seems to be the standard.

The book includes a recipe for cream "cheeze" frosting, made with vegan cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar. The frosting on its own had a bit of a cardboard aftertaste-you'll never be able to trick anyone into thinking Tofutti is the real deal-but spread on the cupcakes you couldn't tell at all.

(I Googled vegan cream cheese reviews, and from the sample that I read Tofutti was the clear winner. Which worked out just as well as that's all the closest supermarket had.)

Equipment needed: muffin tin, hand mixer, cooling rack