Evil Red Velvet

Posted by - Ellebee

After missing the challenges for December and January due to the holidays and family illnesses, I was excited to get back to baking with this month's challenge (good choice, Tina!). I had to take a risk this month, because my high-altitude cookbook did not contain a recipe for this type of cake. So, I went with Paula Deen's, which seems similar to most of the recipes other bloggers have posted this month.

To adjust for the altitude, I added a couple tablespoons more oil than called for, and a tablespoon more flour. (Don't ask me why - I just vaguely remember these being some ideas presented in the high-altitude baking class I took a few years ago.) I was pretty weirded out by the final batter. It was very gelatinous. In fact, it looked like I'd melted down Gumby's old pal Pokey and spooned him into some cupcake tins.

I stuck the cupcakes in the oven, came back 22 minutes later, and voila! Or not. Something was very, very wrong. The cupcakes smelled like ass. I'd forgotten to add the sugar. Yeah - there's no excuse for forgetting to add sugar to cupcakes. I was simply trying to get the batter mixed as quickly as possible, before Piper melted down in her exersaucer, and didn't read the ingredient list closely enough. So, into the trash goes the first batch of cupcakes.

I tried again on, appropriately, Valentine's Day morning. My husband and baby were sick all last week, and the last thing anyone in my house wants to do this year is make a big production of Valentine's Day, so it was agreed my husband would cook a heart-shaped pizza and I would give these cupcakes another go.

This time I was very careful to add the sugar first thing. Alas, Paula Deen's not-high-altitude recipe failed me anyway. All of the cupcakes fell in the middle.

Also, they came out a bit greasy, probably because of the extra vegetable oil. Dorrie, you need to get back to baking so I can just steal your high-altitude recipe each month! I probably should have added an extra egg and/or cut the baking soda by 1/4 teaspoon. I'll post an update later this month if I get the time to try again. For now, there's nothing a bit of frosting can't fix! But, Piper is still not impressed.