Cheater Cheater Red Velvet Cupcake Eater

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To all of you lazy bakers who are bonkers over red velvet but faint at the sight of the mile-long ingredient list thereby associated: the following is your cheaters' guide to a right decent cupcake {It's not Lucy and Leo's. But it ain't bad, folks!}. You are welcome. And your husbands and boyfriends too.

Follow instructions for 1 box of red velvet cake mix. {Ammendment: I would suggest replacing part of the water in the recipe with buttermilk. This is the only thing I would change next time around.} Might I also add that it is amazingly magical to watch the chocolate-looking cake mix turn red when you add liquid? Right back to second grade guys. Then to jazz that mess up, you're going to dump in about 1/3 cup of sour cream. And don't play around with low fat, no fat mess either. Go for the gusto! If you really want to impress, that is. Also sprinkle in about 1 tsp. vanilla extract {Homemade taste in a bottle. My dirty little secret. And you thought I always played nice.} Now you are ready to scoop the batter into your cupcake cups of choice and bake as directed until a toothpick poked around in them comes out nice and clean. Allow to cool. I would suggest doing something super fun and distracting {like a loooong bubble bath} while you wait, so you won't be tempted to rush it. Now for the icing, beat together 1 stick of butter and 1 block of cream cheese. Throw in 1 heaping tbsp. of sour cream for good measure. Now dump in a box of powdered sugar {slowly, lesson learned the hard way} and just let the mixer do it's thang for about 6+ minutes. If you need a little milk down in there, have at it but drizzle sparingly as a little goes a long way. It is an extra pretty process if you have a stand mixer. Especially if it is yellow. Or you can use a hand mixer to pre-burn all of the calories you will soon be eating. Put your fluffy frosting in a pastry bag {if you are Martha Stewart or something, but who are we kidding?!}. Chunk that stuff into a freezer bag, cut a hole in the corner and call it good. Frost all but one cupcake with your makeshift piping bag. Crumble that little cupcake and sprinkle it all over it's fellow brother cupcakes. This makes the cupcakes look super fancy and adds to the foolingness that they are actually from-scratch. Trickay. Extra points if you put them on a pretty tray to make them feel special. Nothing gives a boxed cupcake the warm fuzzies like a pretty tray. Now slap on an apron and call yourself Betty Crocker! Or call yourself Betty White. It's kinda whatever. But do go make these cupcakes.

Love,

Ramsey