Brown Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Mascarpone Cream

I haven't been making cupcakes in a while, it seems. In fact, I feel that I haven't been baking as much this month. I wonder why. I hope that this is not some kind of indication that baking is just another fleeting hobby that I happen to catch for a little moment.

Just to share a little about me: I have a lot of dreams and I have a lot of interests. However, I am also easily entertained and easily bored. I tend to start many things but I don't always finish what I start. I'm trying to be a better person in Christ and I am aware that I am a work-in-progress in God's hands. I've been questioning on what it is that God wants me to do in life with all the interests and passion that He had placed in my life but I have yet to find a conclusive answer.

I know that God placed the love of baking in me for a reason. Just like He placed the love of children in me. I'm just not sure on how He's going to use me for His glory.

Anyways... moving on to the cupcakes. :)

I think I've said this before, but I've always been curious about the red velvet cake. I've made it once before but I wasn't completely satisfied with the results. The color was not red enough and the frosting did not have enough "emph" (whatever that means to you :p). I was also rather disappointed to find out that much of the color in red velvet cake actually comes from food coloring. Traditionally, the red color in the cake was produced by a chemical reaction of the baking soda, vinegar, and cocoa powder. But this reaction alone does not yield a red-enough color for the cake. Therefore, many people used food coloring to "help" the process.

When I saw the red velvet cupcake recipe from Joy of Baking, I became really curious and interested to try. So when I had the opportunity to put this recipe to the test, I did! One little tweak I made to the recipe was to omit the red food coloring. Whenever I can, I try to cut back on the amount of chemicals in the cake. So instead of a red velvet cupcake, I made a brown velvet cupcake. :)

One comment that I got on these is that the frosting is REALLY good! Everyone who tried it, loved the frosting. I loved it too! I personally think that anything with mascarpone is good. :)

Another current hobby and past time for Alvin and I is photography - well, it's more of fun picture taking. We both have a lot of fun with out Canon and since Alvin just bought this new prime lens, I just had to show off the results. :p LOL

I know... I know... we are so far off from being perfect or even artistic. Hahaha... but nonetheless, we had fun taking these pictures. I hope you guys enjoyed it too!

For anyone out there who are good at photography and would love to share some tips for us, we will greatly appreciate it too! :)