Red Velvet with Ina.

You watch a lot of cooking programs—I think I'm safe to assume. You may watch more than you actually cook, and that's alright. You feel inspired, "I could cook that... If I really wanted to... I choose not to."

You know I've tried and I keep going and I document everything ranging from my failures to moderate successes here on the Empirical. The dinners and desserts that turn out to be total losses. I'm still driven to attempt new things, not very often, but when inspired. In my mind, I am Ina. I am Martha. "Technique," I tell myself, "I just need to work on technique."

I don't feel bad about making cake from a mix. I wouldn't bring it to a party or anything, but I've eaten it, I grew up with it. My tastes have definitely changed as I've gotten older, and consuming a cake made from a store-bought mix is now more for nostalgic value than actual enjoyment. (Sidebar: Brownies are another story. I alternate making brownies from a mix and from scratch as a way of learning. I think of brownies made from certain mixes as something to emulate.)

This is something a little more elevated from the standard cake mix. Ina Garten, has a line of baking mixes sold under her "Barefoot Contessa" name. Cranemelon sent me a new, good-quality, non-stick muffin tin and a box of the Red Velvet Cupcake & Cream Cheese Frosting Mix. This is a little more involved and takes more of your own supplied ingredients. Not for first-timers, but anyone with about $15 and moderate experience in baking can accomplish one dozen better-than-decent quality cupcakes. At the very least, you should know 1. what it means to cream butter and 2. how to do that well.

This kit is very forgiving. My home is very cold and the 3/4 stick of butter wasn't "room temperature" enough to cream properly. I kept at it. I only had extra large eggs and not regular large eggs as the box suggests (they were on sale at Trader Joe's). I kept at it.

I don't have a paddle attachment for my mixer. Oh well. And the batter seemed a little too thick. An additional splash of water... Stay the course.

The box says it makes 10 cupcakes. My tin was for a dozen. I lined and filled one dozen. And had enough to pour into a mini cake pan shaped like a Christmas tree. Common sense said not to overfill, Ina said to get near the top. Use your judgment. Use cooking spray if you have it. I didn't.

You are going to need your mixer skills for the frosting. Another 3/4 stick of butter. Oh, Ina! I love butter too! And a box of cream cheese. I nearly bought the lower fat Neufchatel, but hell, this is frosting. I got the butter good and fluffy then incorporated the cream cheese. Slowly adding the mix in small batches after that and kept the mixer on the whole time at a speed a little faster than she suggests. I wanted a whipped up texture.

Yeah, that worked just fine!

Use an offset spatula to frost your cupcakes. Just like you've seen them do it on television many times before. Just think, how much frosting do you want on your cupcake? That's exactly how much you should use. This worked out perfectly divided among the dozen and the mini Christmas tree cake.

"How easy is that?"

To learn more about the world of Ina, visit her website.