Red Velvet Cupcakes

Of course, I had to kick off this blog with my Red Velvet Cupcakes, as they would easily be the most commented on sweet treat I make - I love the flavor - sweet, tangy, with a  hint of chocolatey goodness - moist texture, and creative options when decorating with Cream Cheese Frosting (got to be my favourite frosting for sure!). They are also really easy, as you don't have to melt anything/heat anything/cream and butter & sugar.

I made these cupcakes for quite a few people - if I am doing a baking marathon, I usually like to bless/feed as many people as possible! So one batch of these went to my workmate Ann, and the rest went to Lester (husband, consumer of many calorie laden treats) and also as a thank you to my hairdresser.

I found this recipe on Pinterest (yes - completely addicted), and someone commented on my pin that they were really good - hence this recipe won against the other 101 versions on Pinterest.

Red Velvet Cupcakes 

Recipe from Annie's Eats 

Makes 24 standard sized cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
2½ cups plain flour
1½ cups caster sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. cocoa powder (I always use Equagold Dutch cocoa)
1 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1½ cups vegetable oil (Grapeseed for me)
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp. liquid red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract or paste (Heilala Vanilla Paste is amazing)
1 tsp. white vinegar

For the frosting:
1 Block (250g) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, (coolish)
50g unsalted Butter, just soft enough to beat (Mainland do an unsalted one in NZ)
2 tsp. vanilla extract - or paste if you don't mind the little black vanilla flecks.
3 cups icing sugar, sifted

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.  Line 24 cupcake pans with paper liners.  

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda (sift this in!), cocoa powder and salt; whisk to blend. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar.  Beat on medium speed until well blended.  Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared liners (see below for my tip on this).  Turn oven onto fan-bake if you have it, and turn down slightly to 170-ish degrees. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes.  Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer (or with a hand mixer).  Beat on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  Gradually beat in the icing sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth. Chill for a bit in the fridge if you think it needs to firm up a bit before frosting.  Frost cooled cupcakes as desired. (I used a Wilton 2B tip to pipe these cupcakes.)

My new gadget - an ice-cream scoop (with the bit that scoops it out when you press the handle together) makes putting the cupcake batter in so much easier! = less mess, and even sized cupcakes

Out of the oven - freshly baked deliciousness

All packed up and ready to go!

So if you want to create the 'rosy' swirl, paint gel food coloring down the inside of the piping bag in 3 vertical stripes. I used Wilton 'Red Red' gel coloring. Fill your bag with icing, then pipe from centre outwards to create a rose effect.

I actually froze these cupcakes, and iced a different day - they freeze very well un-iced.

I also made some Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies: They were REAL good!