Angry Birds and Red Velvet Experiments

So for R's birthday he wanted nothing more than a little red velvet Angry Bird cake. So I took it as a chance to try out a new recipe. I have been searching for over a year now for a decent Red Velvet cake recipe and have yet to find one. It seems that no family guards much more than their great grandmother's secret recipe...so if any of you have one of those oh so secret recipes I would love for you to send it my way!

I found this recipe from http://www.carrottopmom.com/?p=290 which was a slight variation of this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/red-velvet-cupcakes-3/Detail.aspx and thought I would give it a try with a few slight variations of my own. The cake/cupcakes turned out well but had a bit too much of a chocolate flavor for a true red velvet and although they were moist straight of the oven they became a bit dry and crumbly even by the next morning. I think that substituting at least half the butter with oil may remedy this. So below is something I haven't done before. A suggestion of what I think the recipe should be (but haven't actually tried the altered version out yet myself).

Red Velvet cupcakes/cake

• 2 1/2 cups flour
  


• 1/4+ a little cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  
  


• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  


• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  


• 1/2 cup butter softened and 1/2 cup veg oil
  


• 2 1/4 cups sugar
  


• 4 eggs
  


• 1 cup sour cream
  


• 1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with 2 teaspoons lemon juice)
  


• 1 ounce red food coloring
  


• 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract and 1 tsp ground vanilla beans (or 4 tsp extract)
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all dry ingredients and set aside.
   


2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Beat batter until fluffy using a whisk attachment if possible. Spoon batter into Cupcake liners
   


3. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean . Gently remove from oven. Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8oz pkg cream cheese

3 tbls butter

1 tsp vanilla beans ground (or extract)

Powdered sugar (about 3 cups)

Mix butter and cream cheese until smooth

Add in powdered sugar until desired texture and flavor. If you like it more sweet add more, if you like it less sweet add less :)

GAME OVER!!!