Starting from Scratch: Red Velvet Cupcakes

We've been in our new home in Hawaii for a little over a week now, and I'm getting to know and love my new kitchen.  But when we first moved in last week we had almost nothing.  I came with my food scale, cutting board, rotating cake stand, 9 inch round cake pan, and an 8x8 baking pan.  That's it.  That's all I had in my kitchen.  For a food lover and an aspiring baker, this is a serious problem.

This is what my kitchen looks like now.  As you can see, I've managed to acquire a few things in the past week, including some pots and pans for cooking and baking.  Counter space is at a minimum, and we still don't own a table to eat at.  Can you say living room picnic?  I recently discovered mid-dinner-making that I hadn't yet bought a can opener for my tomatoes.  Luckily, my dad's pocket tool came to the rescue.  Starting a kitchen from scratch is not easy.  You don't appreciate how much stuff you need to actually make dinner until you have nothing to work with.

The first thing we baked in our new kitchen were red velvet cupcakes to celebrate my daughter's 11th birthday.  She helped to bake and decorate these cupcakes.  They didn't turn out quite as pretty as I would have hoped.  Like I said, I had to buy everything to make these, including the cupcake pan.  I didn't have time to go shopping around for pretty red papers, or even a piping bag.  But we made do with what we had.  I simply used a butter knife to fluff up the frosting on top of the cupcakes and create a fun little swirl on the top. Sprinkles are courtesy of the lovely Miss Em.

Birthday girl anticipation