Red Velvet Cupcakes Guest #AlexErickson #giveaway #Halloween

MADDIE DAY here, delighted to welcome my friend Alex Erickson to the blog with a yummy recipe for Red Velvet cupcakes and a giveaway of Death by Red Velvet Latte, his sixteenth Bookstore Café Mystery!

I forgot that today starts our two weeks of Halloween recipes, which means I forgot to tell Alex. You could still make these work by sticking a tiny toy knife in each cupcake or adding ghost faces! 

Take it away, Alex.

I’m not a cook. Or a baker, for that matter. But because I’m lactose intolerant, eating out is often a dangerous proposition, so it’s usually best to make my own food—desserts included. In Death by Red Velvet Latte, Krissy doesn’t have the same issues as me, so her red velvet wedding cake, along with the accompanying latte, would be similar to what you might find at a bakery or in a store. But for me, this little recipe works, especially when you use alternative ingredients that aren’t so milky.

Red Velvet Cupcakes 

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups white sugar

½ cup butter 

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk**

1 fluid ounce red food coloring**

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

2 cups all-purpose flour

⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder** 

1 teaspoon salt

**Notes:

**Because of my lactose intolerance, I made my own buttermilk (1 cup of lactose-free milk with one tablespoon of distilled vinegar - let set for 5 minutes or until it thickens and looks like it curdled)

**Gel food coloring will give a more vibrant red color than a liquid food coloring.

**It’s preferred to use a regular cocoa powder. I used a Dutch-process cocoa powder which resulted in a darker chocolate color (combined with not having gel food coloring)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two cupcake pans with liners. Recipe will make roughly 24 cupcakes depending on pan size. Mine is smaller so we ended up with 28.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.

 

Beat sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Mix in eggs, buttermilk, red food coloring, and vanilla.

Stir in baking soda and vinegar.

Stir combined flour and cocoa powder mixture into the batter.

Spoon batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove cupcakes to cool on a wire rack.

Frost with desired frosting (I used a store-bought brand that is lactose free, but feel free to make your own to taste). Frosting tip was an Open Star #32.

Enjoy with the hot drink of your choice and a good mystery!

Readers: Want to win a copy of Death by Red Velvet Latte? Just comment below with your favorite dessert—especially one that’s lactose free. I could always use more options!

As bookstore café owner Krissy Hancock worries over her wedding plans, the double murder of rival bakers really takes the cake . . .

At Krissy’s Death by Coffee bookstore café in Pine Hills, Ohio, she’s trying out a new red velvet latte, which she also plans to serve at her wedding along with the red velvet cake a local baker is making. But with the wedding only weeks away, the baker has to cancel due to health reasons. What should have been a cakewalk turns into a last-minute scramble. Krissy and her fiancé Paul meet with two competing cake decorators at the same time, who seem more interested in going at each other than baking her cake.

The next day, when Krissy walks into the bakery to make her choice, she finds both bakers dead with a red velvet cake splattered on the floor. Did they kill each other? she wonders. Over a cake? But soon it’s revealed this mystery has many layers, and any way you slice it, Krissy has to do two more things before she walks down the aisle: solve the murder—and find another baker. Piece of cake, right?

Death by Red Velvet Latte is the 16^th book in the Bookstore Café series.

Alex Erickson is a mystery author with a handful of books under his belt. He lives in Ohio and can be found online at alexericksonbooks.com or contacted by email at alexericksonbooks@gmail.com.