Sweet Taste of Love

Here are a couple of Valentine’s Day recipes just for you! Since the next issue of Tex Appeal is focused on travel, we would like you to share your favorite recipes you’ve picked up on your travels. This could be a clam chowder recipe you discovered while visiting Maine, a go-to taco recipe from Mexico or even the best fish and chips recipe someone shared with you while visiting the United Kingdom. The possibilities are limitless, so please share your favorites and maybe even include a picture from your travels. Send recipes and photos to editor@texappealmag.com.

Recipe and photo by BRANDY CRUZ

Vanilla Cupcakes

There’s something so wonderful about homemade cake — the combination of a soft, fluffy cake and sweet frosting — it might just be the perfect dessert. And the great thing is, once you have a perfect cake recipe, it’s easy to tweak it to make any kind of cake you want. Adding some cocoa powder will make it chocolate, a combination of cocoa and red food coloring will give you a beautiful red velvet cake. There are a multitude of things you can do, including adding flavors or other colors to your cake.
Today, we’re making vanilla cupcakes, but this recipe can be split into two round cake pans to make a cake. This is a great recipe for Valentine’s Day, especially if you have little ones. You can decorate these yourself or even have the frosting and toppings out so everyone can decorate their own.

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1-1/2 cups sugar
½ cup butter (melted)
1 cup milk
3 teaspoons vanilla
3 teaspoons vegetable oil

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray the bottom of the pans or tins to prevent sticking. If you’re using cupcake liners, you don’t need to do this.

Whisk flour, salt and baking powder together and set aside. In a separate bowl or a stand mixer, beat eggs, butter and sugar together. Add the flour mixture to the egg and butter mixture, along with the milk, alternating between flour and milk and mixing well before adding more.

Doing this slowly will allow all the dry ingredients to incorporate well into the mixture. Add the vanilla and oil and give it one finale mix. It’s helpful to scrape the sides of the mixing bowl down to ensure everything is mixed into the batter.

If you’re making cupcakes, use a ladle to pour the cake mix into the cupcake pan. Use a spoon to help contain the mess and then use it to even out any cupcake batter to ensure all the cupcakes are roughly the same size.

If you’re making a round cake, pour the batter into the pans evenly so both layers will be roughly the same size.

Take each batter filled pan and tap it on the counter three or four times to release any large air bubbles. For cupcakes, bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. For cake, bake for about 30 minutes or until done. An easy way to tell if a cake is done is by lightly touching the center of the cake. It should not be gooey and should spring back when touched. If it is still gooey, bake longer.

After cooling in the pan for about five minutes, transfer to a cooling rack. The cake should cool completely before frosting it or you will have a mess on your hands.

Buttercream Frosting
2 sticks butter (softened)
1 pound powdered sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla
2-4 tablespoons milk

Directions
Ensure your butter is softened, but not melted. Whip butter in a mixer until fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar to the butter, beating frequently. If you add too much of the powdered sugar to the mixing bowl, the powdered sugar will fly up and make a mess, so do this slowly. When the mixture starts to get thick, add the vanilla and milk as needed until the frosting is smooth. Only add enough milk to keep your frosting stiff. If you add too much, it will run off your cake.

Cherry Pie

Submitted by TONYA WARREN

My mother-in-law baked this pie for my father-in-law every Valentine’s Day for 60 years, as it was his favorite!

Ingredients
2 unbaked pie crusts
2 14.5-ounce cans of pitted cherries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons corn starch
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
3 drops red food coloring, if desired

Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F. If you want a fancy lattice top crust on your pie, make the cuts now, so it’s ready when your filling is ready.

Drain cherries, reserving one cup of the liquid from the can. On a stovetop, mix sugar and corn starch on medium heat in a small heavy saucepan. Gradually stir in reserved liquid from the can until smooth. Cook and stir until mixture bubbles.

After it thickens up, remove from heat. Stir butter, cherries and food coloring into mixture.

Pour into prepared crust. Cover with vented or lattice top crust.

Bake at 425°F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake 25-35 minutes until golden brown.