Red Velvet Cupcakes, a Balletic Cakewalk and Treat to Self

A warm hello to all my friends ! Hope all of you are doing great and absorbing the sun rays and enjoying the showers before fall schedule sets into motion. I had a wonderful summer holidays relaxing more and cooking less. The favorite passtime was curling up on my couch; daydreaming about food, redoing the decor of my home for fall, vacation whilst taking a power nap and flipping a book with my new lamp from Ikea and playing some soft numbers in the backdrop. Sometimes a break from your daily routine is what you need to get Re-Charged. I simply wish I could pause 'these moments' and live in these happily forever ...!!!!

But got the stroke of reality last week when I got an email from my little one's school reminding me about 'back to school time'. It seems just yesterday to me when it was a carnival in the school. It was a fun filled afternoon with so many exciting games and rides. My Lil one took a box of chocolate cupcakes to play the fun game of 'Cake Walk'. The music was turned on and all the toddlers were busy doing a 'balletic walk' to win over their favorite cake from the cake stall.  The music stopped at once and the kids were freeze tagged. Aha..what a lovely moment. The kids were rolling their eyes on each other with curiosity to know about the winner. The teacher rolled the numbers and called for number 8. Hey its me, its me ! Shouted and screamed my monster with joy. He won a beautiful Red Beetle Cake and was seen buzzing around the park like a happy honey bee for quite a while. Its exciting to be part of kids activities.

We baked and enjoyed a variety of cakes in these summer holidays. Baking a cake is an art and every time I bake, I learn something new. Recently. I baked a "chocolate peach cake" but it didn't work out well and became more like a peach-submerged-brownie :(( . Last Sunday we brought home Blue Bunny Red Velvet Ice Cream, it was awesome (din't survive >  2days) this was another great treat for me, some who has started loving every food that Red Velvet. Finally I mustered enough courage Ito bake a 'Red velvet cake'. Initially thought of doing everything by scratch and bake a cake with red beets. But keeping in mind my last failure, thought of postponing my plan for a while. I swiftly surfed couple of options and zeroed in on Paula Deen's "Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting" Though her recipes generally call for loads of butter/fat, but the ingredient list of this one sounded good to me. So simply followed her instructions by heart to get a batch of perfect cupcakes. In less than an hour my kitchen had fragrant and sparkling tray of cupcakes.

As I stated above, these cupcakes are inspired by one of my favourite celebrity chefs Paula Deen's recipe Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

mmmmm......I just loved the house filled with sweet aroma of freshly baked cake. It is so contagious and makes you feel so very good :))) The cupcakes added an instant sparkle in my kitchen...

We all savoured it and hope you too like this recipe and 'Treat Yourself Oneday' !!!!!!!!! 

Later enjoyed some cupcake with a scoop of chilled vanilla bean ice cream too !!!

Look, someone's having amazin-lickin fun :)

Thanks a ton to all folks for stopping by my space and Have a wonderful week ahead !

Much Love, Sonia xoxo