Red Velvet

I made some cupcakes today for a little gathering of women at my house this evening.  I have never made a red velvet cake before, mainly because I don't like dye in my food, and the flavor can tend to be... well... let's face it... red velvet cake doesn't have much flavor.  So I decided to make a red velvet cake with beet puree in it for the color so I could skip the chemical dyes.  Only I didn't think it was chocolatey enough, so I added more cocoa.  Problem is, when you add more chocolate you lose the red color.  Soo... my "red velvets" looked a little...

...well... not very red. I tried them, and had eaten three by the time I realized I just didn't like them very much. Really good chocolate cake isn't hard to make, this just wasn't it.

Mmmm... cupcakes! They look hopeful, don't they?!

The theme of the party required red food, thus red velvet cake. So... since that didn't really work out I made chocolate ganache and strawberries with a dash of lime. And I don't care what it is, if you drench it in ganache, then it will turn out to be good. And strawberries are always the right color and yummy also!

Soo... I won't be making red velvet cake again, but it was lovely to have the ladies here. It was a fun evening.

Any excuse to celebrate,
-Carmen Rose

Independence Day Soap

My Independence Day collection of soap.
"Old Glory" is pure and simple apple pie. Yes indeed, it just doesn't get any better than that!
Some fresh sweet apple, a hint of floral and sweet almond in a combination of goat's milk and olive oil soap.
"July 4th" soap featuring fireworks of red apple, blue spice in sweet vanilla goat's milk soap.
Lapis clove spice with a sweet French vanilla center that makes for a sweet and spicy “Shenandoah Moon.”