I apologize this post is LONG OVERDUE - but there is always next year!!!

For Independence Day I made red and blue velvet cupcakes.  They were quite delicious (to me, that is! ;))

At first I made the frosting from scratch but I used a no-fat cream cheese and the frosting ended up to be, well, gooey so I had my mom go to Kroger (our major grocery store in the area) to get cream cheese icing.  For twice the fat but oh well huh?

I took the joy in decorating my cupcakes.  That was a blast.  Here are the pictures:

Here is the recipe (makes around 24) I used for the cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I went to foodnetwork.com and found that there is another recipe - maybe this will yield better results (makes 16 cupcakes)?

15 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
13 ounces granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons red food coloring
1 1/4 teaspoons vinegar (white or apple cider can both work)
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 cup water

Enjoy!

OH -- Happy Birthday, Aunt Paula!  :)