By now the house will be strewn with tinsel and glittering baubles. It is the perfect time to indulge in a bit of festive baking alongside a playlist of holiday tunes. These red velvet cupcakes are show stoppers! The cocoa powder in the sponge gives them a mild chocolate flavour and rich colour. For the fabulous red icing I use cream cheese which lends a contrasting tangy taste to these sweet cupcakes.
Red velvet bakes have an intriguing trompe l’oeil effect signalling to the brain ‘red fruit’, whilst the flavour of the cake is actually chocolate, due to the addition of cocoa powder. Commercial bakers achieve a vibrant deep red sponge purely by adding artificial red food colouring as it maintains a stable colour after baking which doesn’t fade. However the manufacturer’s labelling indicates it should be used sparingly (so it’s wise to ask mum to supervise the amount used). In this recipe, I have kept the red colouring to a quarter teaspoon in both the cake sponge and icing respectively, the result won’t be as shocking red but they will taste just lovely - light and moist with the buttermilk (a signature ingredient in most red velvet cakes). The good news is I have noticed that a good quality cocoa powder gives a richer hue rather than paler brown texture in the sponge. For a more natural terracotta colour, so less red ‘red velvet cake’, you can experiment with brands supplying natural red food colourings and even substitute organic colours from the natural pigment in beetroot (you’ll need a lot and the taste will be quite earthy) or use freeze dried raspberry powder if you can get it. The specialist brands of colouring gels and pastes are Wilton, Sugarflair and PME and you can buy them in specialist cake decorating shops. Most people can’t resist something dainty and small, so I often bake novelty cupcakes in mini sizes which will need half the baking time in the oven.
A top tip is to make them in whatever size suits you. If you make them in mini cocktail size muffin trays, you can make twice as many or if you only want a few large ones, it is a simple equation to half the recipe. Another nice idea for mini cocktail cupcakes is to substitute huge red strawberries instead of red icing, and simply pipe a bit of white icing for the hat rim and bobble.
Makes 12 Cupcakes
Ingredients
30g cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp natural red food colouring paste (or gel)
100g butter, cubed, room temperature
125g caster sugar
2 large eggs
250g plain flour, sieved
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bread soda
1 tsp salt
200ml buttermilk
Red and White Icing
120g butter, cubed, room temperature
120g cream cheese
400g icing sugar, sieved
zest of an orange
¼ tsp natural red food colouring paste (or gel)
Method
50% Complete
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