Red Velvet Cupcakes with Blackberry Cream Cheese Frosting

If you aren't able to spend this Valentine's day with someone sweet, be sure to spend it with SOMETHING sweet. The base of this cupcake came straight from a box and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Sometimes you just don't need to fix what's not broken and in my opinion, Betty Crocker does it best when it comes to red velvet.

 

As I was making my favorite cream cheese frosting, I decided to throw in a little something extra that happened to be staring at me in the fridge. It turned out wonderfully and according to my hubby, tasted like ice cream (I took it as a compliment because he LOVES ice cream). Give this simple beyond simple number a try this Hallmark holiday and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Makes about 24 cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients
1 box Duncan Hines Red Velvet cake mix
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup water
1/3 cup cooking oil

Frosting Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 (8 oz) box cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 cups powdered sugar

Directions
Heat oven to 350. Place paper liners in each of 24 regular-size muffin cupcakes. Mix cupcake ingredients in large bowl. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full. Bake for 19-22 minutes. Let cool for about 30 minutes.

Whip together butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until you achieve your desired consistency. Mix in a handful of crushed fresh blackberries. Frost cupcakes.

I recommend serving these, as well as any cream cheese dessert, chilled.