Red Velvet Cupcakes

I have amassed quite a large collection of baking cookbooks in the past few years. Something about the pastel colors of the frosting, the old-fashioned look of a big tall cake slathered in butter cream, and the big plate of cupcakes just compels me to buy the books. (I'm obviously a marketing and sales team's dream consumer). Though I love all of these cookbooks, there is one that I always turn to when I actually want to bake something. The other ones I pull out when I want to get inspired by their glossy pictures or read through the recipe introductions to indulge my inner cookbook nerd.
The pages of my copy of "The Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook: More than 80 Recipes for Irresistible, Old-Fashioned Treats" are tattered and gunked up with spilled frosting and batter, and when I close it there's always a puff of flour that's been wedged between the pages for who knows how long. But that's the way cookbooks are supposed to be- well-loved and worn in and covered in smatterings of all the delicious things you've cooked out of them.

I love everything I've ever baked out of this cookbook, but one of my all time favorites is their red velvet cupcakes. I frost mine with the cream cheese frosting listed in the frosting section- I love the not too sweet tang of the cream cheese against the deep chocolaty richness of the red velvet cake. Pair one of these with a big glass of cold milk, and I swear you can win over just about anybody.

I've dusted these ones with a bit of coco powder.

These ones have a bit of glitter sugar and some sugar pearls.