Well we have a bake sale at work on Wednesday. That’s right a good old-fashioned bake sale. We’re raising money for local senior citizen homes in the area. Now, I’ve known since I was a child that I wasn’t much of a baker. Put me in front of burners and I will do just fine, but a set of ovens sends shivers down my spine. For some reason, baking and I never really did well together. There are a few exceptions. I make pumpkin pie every year and they are always a hit. I also tempt fate once a year with my gingerbread.

Even after 12 weeks of Pro Baking at school, a teaspoon that and a tablespoon this along with a 1/4 cup of this and 3/4 cup of another thing, I can’t bake.

So…I dove into my library of recipes and pulled out a recipe from a chef acquaintance of mine from Washington DC. He did a couple of classes for me at Sur La Table in Arlington and was pastry chef of one of my favorite restaurants at the time, Ten Penh and DC Coast.

David Guas who is now the owner of DamGoodSweet Consulting in Washington DC. He recently released his new book, DamGoodSweet: Desserts to Satisfy your Sweet Tooth, New Orleans Style. It’s a great book and I’ll get into a full review later today.

So I decided to try my hand at Red Velvet Cake. More accurately, cupcakes. It’s a pretty straight-forward recipe. I’ll followup with Part II of this entry after the bake sale.

Below is my batch of cupcakes heading into my pre-heated oven…

Photo credit of David Guas: DamGoodSweet.com and Simone Rathlé