So, I decided I was going to bring brains cupcakes to this Halloween party I am going to tomorrow. Little did I know, doubling a recipe that calls for 12 will actually create 48. Shit. Anyhoo, this recipe is Anne Thornton's and can be found
here.
Here's a lovely shot of my kitchen with all of the ingredients out on the counter.
I like to measure out my dry goods before mixing them all together. Alton Brown taught me that.
Eggs first - 4 of them. Good thing I had 7 left. I didn't exactly figure out if I had the ingredients to double the recipe before deciding to.
Now, the veg oil.
Next, is buttermilk. I don't keep that on hand but always have plenty of milk. My mom taught me how to make buttermilk by adding 1 T lemon juice to 1 C milk. Voila!
So one time awhile back, I put hot liquids in my plastic liquid measuring cup. Then rinsed it with cold water. It cracked. I didn't realize it was cracked all the way through until now. Oops. Buttermilk down!
Okay, added the "buttermilk" to the oil & eggs.
Next comes the last three wet ingredients, vinegar, vanilla & red food coloring. I bought gel food coloring last time. It colors frosting well, but I wish I had the liquid stuff for the actual batter. Oh well.
All the liquids together! Pre-mixed.
...and mixed! Red velvet here we come!
Hello dry goods, sifted and mixed together lovingly in another mixing bowl.
Jeez, good thing I used my biggest mixing bowl... It is at this point in my baking enterprise, I realize that I have forgotten to preheat the oven. Shit (again).
Do not judge my sweet old-school kitchen.
Zoey is bored and wants to play with the laser toy, but I don't have time now Zoey! Must finish braaaaainnns cupcakes!
Anne suggested using an ice cream scoop to put the batter in the baking cups. Mine isn't the same kind, but what the hell.
She also said it would be messy...
I got some really cute cups, but they were kind of cheap so they did that foldy thing which annoys me.
But they were so damn cute I couldn't resist!
Time to crack open #firstbeer - @Lakefront Brewery's IPA. YUM! I also listened to
Getting Tanked with Frank throughout the baking process. Love those fools.
Ooh, looking good in the oven!
And out! Lovely!
Time to make some frosting!
Dry goods!
Wet goods (and my lovely written down grad school note taking style recipe copied down whilst watching her show)!
Butter + powdered sugar. Cream together.
There was a point where I was wondering if it was ever going to "cream." Then I remembered to add the milk:
Added vanilla and food coloring to make the gray brains color. I added a few drops of red, green and blue gel food coloring. It was pretty before it became brainy.
swirls!
Close up!
And it all comes together to form a delightful brain gray.
I may have messed up the frosting a little and am nearing delirium at this point. I am sad because the decorating is only beginning. Not to mention the fact that I had only baked like 1 dozen at this point. *yawn*
Guess it's time for a second beer!
These are the best ones I did. I have a ton of bad ones to go with these. Not like I care. People are just going to eat them, right? And I hope they taste good!
So there you have it: my first food blog. I know this is nothing compared to some of the girls' blogs I read (Megan at
The Runner's Kitchen, Monica at
Run Eat Repeat, and
Skinny Runner) but it was fun. And it took forever! It is now nearly 1 AM, I've been up since 6 AM and I'm exhausted. Enjoy!
Gotta run!
