Black & Red Heart Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes & Vanilla Bean Frosting decorated with black and red hearts

I have actually been waiting to make these since before Christmas, but with all of the Christmas baking, I just didn't have the time. I got this mix from BJ's, by Sof'ella- gourmet natural foods. It isn't chalked full of chemicals either and things I can't even pronounce either. I figured I would try it...why not?

This is what the cupcakes look like without the fondant toppers.

The box comes with the cake mix and a powdered frosting mix. I followed all the directions with no substitutions, so these guys are 440 calories each plus the toppers, more than double my usual cupcake. Following the directions for the frosting as well, using room temperature butter, I didn't need to add the water to the frosting. The frosting was already too loose. In fact, I had to add about 3/4 of a cup of powdered sugar to get it to piping consistency. The frosting wasn't overly sweet to begin with, so the added sugar was fine. I used Wilton tip 195 for the swirl, it is a medium size tip like the 1M.

So here is the whole gang! Almost.

They taste better than the average box mix, the frosting is definitely better than a canned frosting. As far as red velvets go, I am still looking for a red velvet to wow me. People always name red velvet as a favorite. I have tried a few different red velvet from scratch recipes, different red velvet box mixes, as well well as red velvets from a few different cupcakeries. I still don't see what is so "wow" about red velvets, other than the fact they are red and that is kinda cool. I guess these are about as good as it gets for the red velvets that I have tried.

Of course the cupcake is just a vehicle for the toppers that I have made. I used the  Duff Red & Black Fondant, so of course they taste great. Here are the red ones.

Here are the black ones

Here is the loner. The box was supposed to make 12 and I ended up with 13 full nice sized cupcakes. I was impressed with the nice look and dome of this red velvet cupcake. You can even see the specks of vanilla bean in the frosting!

I made the cupcake toppers at the same time that I made these Love Letters and Hearts Cookies and of course they are inspired from the same thing...I won't say it again, not right now. By the way, I am over 3/4 finished with the second book now!

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Featured at: The Cupcake Blog