In search of something to eat for lunch this past Monday afternoon, I stumbled over an unopened container of Duncan Hines Cream Cheese frosting. “Well,” I thought to myself, “someone really ought to use this …”
I love cupcakes. Who doesn’t love cupcakes? And my absolute favorite kind of cupcake is Red Velvet – but I’ve never made them before! It just so happened that we also had Ghirardelli unsweetened cacao powder in the house (no idea why), so I obviously had to give them a whirl.
I searched for a while to find a recipe I though sounded good and settled on one I found on the website pinchmysalt.com (a really great site with beautiful food photos and recipes). I followed the recommendation to use unsalted butter instead of shortening (staying true to that butter-loving French chef in me), and I made my own decision to use white wine vinegar in place of normal white vinegar – because everything tastes better with wine! Actually I also like the more complex flavor of white wine vinegar, and I think it made a scrumptious substitution, so I say try it! These cupcakes definitely weren't the easiest to make, but they were oh so worth it.
