Red Velvet Cupcakes and other sweet treats for Valentine’s Day

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Today’s recipe for red velvet cupcakes is one that I saw 10 years ago on Love My Philly.  When I saw it, I knew I had to make it for my mom for her birthday which would also allow me to share the recipe with you just in time for Valentine’s Day.  However, I did make a slight adaptation to the original recipe.  I must say I love a recipe that begins with a cake mix.  It makes life easy and it’s so convenient.

Now, I do know it is hard to locate a red velvet cake mix here in Utah, but I have always been able to locate one at Walmart.  If you can’t find the red velvet mix, you can substitute a Betty Crocker German chocolate cake and add 1 oz bottle of red food coloring and 1 Tbsp cocoa powder to the mix.

The cupcakes themselves turned out delicious.

To begin, you help doctor them up by adding a dry box of pudding mix, which I love.  I love it when you can add another ingredient or two to make the cake mix even better.  They turn out moist and tasty.  Yum!

Now on to the frosting. I think it just may be my new “go to” cream cheese frosting.  What makes this frosting extra special is the addition of a little cool whip.  LOVE IT!  As a result, you still get that yummy delicious cream cheese flavor, but the cool whip adds a nice lightness to the frosting.  You get a winning combination when you put the cake and the frosting together.  I make these often.y are one of my favorite cucpakes ever!

I used my “Best Ever Cupcake Icing Kit” that I  purchased from Bake It Pretty.  Their jumbo tips are WAY bigger than the usual cake decorating tips.  Their kit make decorating these cupcakes easy and beautiful.  I used the close star tip.  The kit is well worth the investment if you love to make cupcakes like I do. Your cupcakes will look professional.

So celebrate Valentines by giving your loved ones a little sweet treat and if  red velvet cupcakes aren’t your thing here are a few more sweet treat ideas that would also work great for Valentine’s Day.

• Brownie Bites – who wouldn’t love brownies topped with ganache in a bite sized form.
• Perfect Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream – a great combination of sweet with a little sour.
• Perfect Cake Mix Cupcakes topped with Strawberry Jam Butter Cream–  I made these oneyear for Valentine’s Day.  They bring together the great tastes of chocolate and strawberry.  You could even finish them of with a chocolate dipped strawberry on top.  These screams Valentine’s Day.
• Basic White Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream – if you are feeling kind of nutty they co with this combination.  Clasic white cupcakes finished off with coconut flavored butter cream and toasted coconut.
• Moist Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream – a classic of chocolate and chocolate.
• Molten Lava Cakes – who doesn’t love a molten lava cake.  I served this to my Hubby for Valentine’s years ago.  I love mine served with vanilla ice cream.
• Eclairs – my own version using instant pudding mix to help make the filling.
• Eclair Torte – an even easy version of an eclair.
• Chocolate Mousse Filled Cream Puffs – these cream puffs are filled with a delicious no cook mousse that is a cinch to make.
• Cookie Sundae – this easy dessert starts with a cookie mix.  It’s simple to make but looks impressive.

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These are the original photos from this post when it was first published in February 2010.