Friday, 8 July 2011

I love cupcakes

So I’m sat here trying to engross myself in a powerpoint presentation, but distraction has driven me to search online for delish cupcake recipes.


I found a recipe for Red Velvet cupcakes! YUM. Not sure how many people have heard of Red Velvet cakes as I think they are more of an American thing, but I personally heard about them years ago when I watched that ever so intellectual reality show ‘Newlyweds’, starring everyone’s favourite couple Jess and Nick (yeah right..)







They had a Red Velvet wedding cake, which to be fair looked 10 out of 10 yummers. I couldn’t actually find a good picture of their exact cake, so here is a random picture of a slice of Red Velvet cake (we can just pretend that this is the exact one they ate, yeah?)



Looks yummy right?



Well you too could be chowing down on some Red Velvet cake tonight like I will be, if you just follow these ever so simple (?) directions…




Red Velvet cupcake recipe




6 0g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150g caster sugar
1 egg
10g cocoa powder
20ml red food colouring (preferably Dr. Oetker's as red food colourings vary in strength)
½tsp vanilla extract
120ml buttermilk
150g plain flour
½tsp salt
½tsp bicarbonate of soda
1½tsp white wine vinegar


For the cream cheese frosting:
300g icing sugar, sifted
50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g cream cheese, cold





Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3.



Put the butter and the sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy and well mixed. Turn the mixer up to high speed, slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well incorporated.



In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract to make a thick, dark paste. Add to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until evenly combined and coloured (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula).



Turn the mixer down to slow speed and slowly pour in half the buttermilk. Beat until well mixed, then add half the flour, and beat until everything is well incorporated. Repeat this process until all the buttermilk and flour have been added. Scrape down the side of the bowl again. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have a smooth, even mixture. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed, then turn up the speed again and beat for a couple more minutes.




Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 mins, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.




Meanwhile for the cream cheese frosting: Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 mins. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.



When the cupcakes are cold, spoon over the cream cheese frosting on top.








Man that’s long. Anyway, I’m off to Sainsbury’s soon to buy the ingredients, hope they turn out well! Maybe if you are lucky I will post a picture of these beauties after I am done later.

If you make them too, I hope you enjoy!



Love,
Lauren x

1 comment:

  1. We went to wedding at the weekend and they had a five tier alternating white & red velvet wedding cake! It was amazing! And at our engagement party we had the cupcakes, you should definately start a trend over there! I bet you could make them amazingly!!

    ReplyDelete