Red hot cupcakes & killer shirts

I can't skate, but I can make a mean cupcake.



Many thanks to Natalie of Bake & Destroy for making this awesome shirt. You can find them at her Etsy shop, along with a bunch of other cute stuff.

Now on to cupcakes...

shane kept saying that he wanted cinnamon cupcakes and I got the idea to make spicy cupcakes reminiscent of those red hot candies, which would have been perfectly cute for Valentine's Day, but I'm a slacker. The recipe just makes a few simple modifications to VCTOTW's basic golden cupcakes, with cinnamon oil for kick, cocoa for depth, and of course red food coloring! You can find cinnamon oil at baking/candy making supply stores or online.



Red hot cupcakes
1 c. soy milk
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tbs. cornstarch
1 tbs. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. canola oil
3/4 c. unrefined cane sugar
2 tsp. red food coloring
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon oil

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare your cupcake pan with liners. (This batch made 36 mini-cups and should make 12 regulars.)

Stir together the soy milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle. Meanwhile, sift together the flour through salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk the oil, sugar, extract, and cinnamon oil, then whisk in the milk mixture until slightly frothy.

Carefully stir in the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Fill your cupcake liners and bake for 12-15 (mini) or 18-20 (regular) minutes, or until they pass the toothpick test.

I frosting these with a basic vanilla cooked buttercream and sprinkled them with homemade red sugar.

I despise that almost all cake decorations contain confectioner's glaze, so thanks to Pamela for inspiring me to make my own decorating sugar. She had told me that she had success making her own with pre-made piping gels and sugar. I wondered if it would work with just regular food coloring and granulated sugar and it did! I used about 3 drops of color to a tablespoon of sugar and just worked it in with my fingers. Make sure to use a glove to save yourself from stains. The color might not be as rich, but it's much cheaper than the one fancy brand of sugar that I know of that doesn't use shellac in their sugar (plus they use bleached sugar, which I try to avoid). I've been told confectioner's glaze is so popular because it prevents bleeding, but so far my cupcakes are bleed-free.