There are 13 Wilsons in my generation.
1/2 of us live within 20 miles of each other…the other 1/2 is a bit scattered.
Wisconsin, ATL, L.A., Indiana. Representin’.
Our LA affiliates were in for Christmas day…alas, they had to leave the snow/ice/rain/cold and return to sunny Cali-for-neeya.
Wisconsin, ATL and Indiana are in town.
15 years ago, this gathering would have taken place at the local watering hole…and we would have closed the place down. That was before we all started sprouting the next generation. And there’s 21 of them little rascals. Dragging 21 kids to a bar doesn’t sound too awesome. Or legal.
So we’re all converging on my cousin Scott. His idea, dude.
I wanted to make something fun…something festive…something awesome.
I thought about red velvet cupcakes, and got a thumbs-up from Scott to bring them…
But I still wanted to do something besides boring cupcakes. Something unexpected.
My friend Billy (you remember Billy – Fried Deviled Eggs Billy! Billy with the Sweet William Pickle Company! Billy!) lured me to this on pauladeen.com
These are Brandied Cherry Cupcakes baked in mason jars. Completely brilliant.
Except I didn’t want to have to haul a bunch of jars to Scott’s house, then make sure they all were gathered up and in the car to bring home. And let me be honest, facing the daunting task of washing a bunch of jars tomorrow wasn’t too appealing.
So I tried to come up with something similar…
Parfaits! Of course! It’s so simple!
You can use whatever cake and frosting flavors you like…I chose Red Velvet.
This is 2 recipes of my red velvet cake. I baked them in cupcake tins, but just used one scoop of batter, rather than two.
See how they’re a little short and squat? Perfect for this….
I tried to find those crystal clear plastic cups, but they didn’t sell them in any store near me…I settled for these – slightly frosted, but will work, I think.
Throw a cupcake into the bottom…then top with some frosting.
This is a cooked frosting, by the way. The way I think God intended for us to eat Red Velvet Cakes.
I layered up 3 cakes in each cup…with my assistant Big D. I worked the frosting, he dropped in the cakes. He dubbed himself “Cupcake Man”. Which sounds like the greatest superhero ever.
More frosting on the top…
And we need sprinkles. Duh.
“Cherries! Mommy! Cherries!”
Now a ribbon and a spoon…
Not quite as great as I had hoped, but still pretty fun.
And what do we love most about cupcake parfaits?
A really good cake-to-frosting ratio.
Perfect for a holiday party, right?
