16 May, 2007

The Duncan Difference

As some of you may know, I received my box of Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Mix in the mail the day after our taste test. Having had enough Red Velvet for a while, I let the box sit for a couple of weeks in my pantry. And then last night, I pulled it out, dumped the contents into my mixer with some eggs, oil, and water, and voila! Cupcakes! I am bringing them over to the Huntress House later for the panel to taste, but in my humble opinion, these are much better than any of the recipes we tried two weeks ago. I think the big difference is the texture. Perhaps if we had used cake flour rather than all-purpose, and sifted our dry ingredients, some of the other cupcakes would have turned out similarly, but these ones are incredibly finely textured. They are also not too sweet, and just chocolate-y enough to no longer qualify as "yellow cake". Not to mention the lovely deep red color! My only complaint is in the frosting.
I'm sorry, but canned cream cheese frosting that doesn't need refrigeration just does not compare to the real thing. In any case, I will keep you posted on the opinions of my other tasters, but I think this recipe takes the cake!!!

2 comments:

Jen of MadeByGirl said...

I TOTALLY agree it cannot compare. I used to make cupcakes all the time but had to cut down...i would use only egg whites though

http://madebygirl.blogspot.com/
www.madebygirl.com

Anonymous said...

you are so funny! you have to know that i made these tonight for ginerfest '07 (gathering of girlfriends at my house to watch sisterhood of the traveling pants while eating veggie bbq, candy, and red velvet cupcakes--also, in extension of the festival, i've rented two weeks notice, but haven't watched it yet!). you were right, they were good! thank you for all of your hard taste testing work. i felt safe and confident serving these to my guests, knowing that they had battled for and earned the title of america's next top red velvet (cup)cake! <3mar