Red Velvet Update

I know that I promised to give y'all an update on the Red Velvet cupcakes - so here it is.

I tried out a red velvet recipie from Paula Deen - and I have to say that I was not impressed with the cake. It tasted too much like oil - although it wasn't oily.

The frosting on the other hand...was FANTASTIC. And relatively low fat (compared to normal cream cheese frosting). Now most cream cheese frosting recipies call for 16 oz. of Cream Cheese (2 8oz. packages). Just 1 8oz. package of regular cream cheese is 22.5 points. So 2 packages put you at 45 points. Add in the powder sugar, butter, and vanilla and you are at something close to 90 points (this is the whole frosting - not the frosting divided into servings. What I learned making my pumpkin cheesecake earlier this year is that while fat free cream cheese may be much better for you, it tastes bitter compared to regular cream cheese and doesn't necessarily have the same consistency in the end. So I used a combination of fat free cream cheese and neufchatel cheese. Neufchatel is a soft cheese that is very cream cheese like (you even find it in that section of the grocery store) but it is lower in fat than regular cream cheese and is creamier than fat free cream cheese. It's a happy medium. So here is my recipie.

Emily's totally AWESOME cream cheese frosting
1 8oz. package of fat free cream cheese (room temp)
1 8oz. package of Neufchatel cheese (room temp)
1/2 cup of butter (softened, but not melty)
2 cups powder sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Using and electric mixer, cream together the FF Cream Cheese, Neufchatel Cheese, and butter. Once mixed together, mix in powder sugar in about about 1/2 cups increments. Mix until frosting smooth but not bubbly. Add in vanilla and mix for another 30 seconds. If you want a different flavor of frosting - you can add in a different extract in substitute for vanilla. If you want chocolate frosting - you can add in 1/2 cup cocoa (I reccommend Hershey's special dark cocoa - it's totally sinful).

When I made this recipie, I was liberally able to frost 23 regular sized cupcakes and still had over a cup of frosting left. The total points for the icing is about 64 points, meaning that point for a serving (based on 24 cupcakes) is about 3.

Enjoy.