Red Velvet Cupcake

I tasted my first Red Velvet Cake at NYDC and it was love at first bite! The texture of the cake was soft and moist and the cream cheese frosting was simply delicious.

After that, I would find myself scouting through restaurant or cafe to see if they have a piece of this lovely cake listed.

I found one that looked pretty at a cafe but the taste was a complete anti-climate. The cake was super dry and it tasted as though I have poured one tablespoonful of baking soda directly on my tongue. For those of you who bake, you would know what i meant when after a bite of the cake you can feel as though your tongue is coated with this static dryness. It was simply ultra yuckiness to the max!

After that encounter, I have decided to bake the cake myself but first, I must find the recipe! hahaha. Searching for the "perfect" red velvet recipe was not an easy task as you will not know if that is perfect for you until you try baking it.

It was quite a turn-off for me when I realised the alarming amount of red food colouring that goes into making this cake! However, I was determined to find the one recipe that will not use too much of the red colouring.

After searching through numerous recipe sites and looking at various comments, I have decided to give Martha Stewart's recipe a go.

This recipe is almost perfect for me! The cupcake was moist with fine tender crumbs and because it uses oil instead of butter, the texture of the cupcakes was light. The fluffy cream cheese frosting is just THE PERFECT topping for this cupcake.

The recipe still calls for red food colouring but only half teaspoon was required. The cupcake colour is more towards redish brown rather than red, but I am happy with the outcome.

The cream cheese frosting was really fluffy and heavenly. However, it was rather soft and hard to pipe so I had to place it in the fridge for about 15 minutes to make it easier for piping.


Here is the recipe that I have used with reduced amount of Oil and sugar.


Red Velvet Cupcakes
Yields 20 regular size cupcakes

Ingredients
240g Cake flour
2 tbsps Unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tsp Salt
225g Caster Sugar (original 340g)
1 1/3 cups Vegetable Oil (original 1 1/2 cups)
2 Large Eggs at room temperature
½ tsp Red Gel Paste food colour
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 cup Buttermilk
1½ tsps. Baking Soda
2 tsps Distilled White Vinegar

Cream cheese frosting
225g Unsalted Butter
340g Cream Cheese
300g Powder Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract (original 3/4 tsp)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, cocoa and salt.



2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in food color and vanilla.



3. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 3 batches alternating with 2 additions of buttermilk and whisking well after each addition.



4. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl and add the mixture to the batter and mix on medium speed for 10 seconds.



5. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each 3/4 full.



6. Bake for 18-20mins until a skewer inserted comes out clean with just a little bit of crumbs sticking to the stick.



7. Transfer tin to wire rack to cool before frosting with Cream Cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Whisk together cream cheese and butter until creamy and fluffy.


2. Add sugar in 3 batches and continue to whisk until pale.


3. Add vanilla extract and mix to combine.
   

P. S. - I took some cupcakes to my office on Monday and my colleagues gave me 100 Marks for it! Yippee!! This recipe is a definite keeper !! :)

Floor Party!

We are very blessed to have wonderful neighbours on our floor. We used to organised dinner outings where all of us will drive out and enjoy a nice meal and companionship.

Yesterday, we had our 1st Floor Early Christmas Celebration and we had it pot luck style:) What a wonderful way to celebrate friendship and neighbourliness !

We contributed the following items:

• Mexican Shepherd's Pie
• Mini Nutella Cupcakes
• Oreo Chocolate Cake

Vanilla Cupcakes

This is a simple vanilla cupcake that you can jazz it up with vanilla, chocolate or lime buttercream or simply any toppings to your fancy.

For me, this cupcake is good enough to eat it on its own and my 3 years old son readily agrees with me hahahahah. I don't really fancy buttercream with except if it is swiss meringue buttercream as that taste a lot lighter than regular buttercream. Just the thoughts of buttercream already add kilos to my waistline! hahahaha

Vanilla Cupcakes

Makes 12 regular or 36 mini cupcakes

Ingredients

110g Unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
225g Caster Sugar (golden caster would be better)
2 Large Eggs
150g Self-Raising Flour, sifted
125g Plain Flour, sifted
120ml Non-fat milk or skimmed Milk, at room temperature
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Line the cupcake tray with cupcake cases.
   
2. Using the paddle attachment, cream butter & sugar until the mixture is pale & smooth.
   
3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing for a few minutes after each addition.
   
4. Combine the 2 flours in a separate bowl.
   
5. Add the Vanilla Extract to the Milk.
   
6. Add 1/3 of the flours to the creamed mixture & beat well.
   
7. Pour in 1/3 of the milk and beat again.
   
8. Repeat these steps until all the flour & milk have been added.
   
9. Carefully spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, filling them to about 2/3 full.
   
10. Bake for 25 mins (regular size) or 15 mins (mini size) until slightly raised, golden brown & skewer come out clean.
    
11. Remove from the oven & leave the cupcakes in their tins for about 10 mins before placing them on wire rack to cool.
    
12. Once they're compeletly cool, frost the cupcake with your choice of buttercream or toppings or just eat them plain! :)
    

Nice & Easy Banana Cake

This is a really simple and yummy banana cake. I made some of these to share with my colleagues and they really like it and many kept asking me for the recipe.

This recipe can be made into regular size cupcakes or mini cupcakes. My 3 years old son loves them in mini size and he can easily finished 5 minis at a go!

Ingredient

180g Salted Butter
180g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
4 Ripe Bananas, coarsely mashed to get 1 cup
1/8 tsp Banana Essence (Optional)
3 tbsps Milk mixed with
1 tbsp Lemon Juice

(A) Sieve together
240g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda

Decorations
2 Ripe Bananas, Sliced
1/2 Lime

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease & lined a 25cm x 15cm / 10" x 6 " loaft tin or prepare cupcake pan with liners.
   
2. Cream butter & caster suger till light & fluffy.
   
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
   
4. Mix in mashed bananas, banana essence, sour milk and (A) till well combined. Do not over mix.
   
5. Pour into a greased loaft tin or paper cups if you're making cupcakes.
   
6. Squeeze lime juice over banana slices and arrange it on top of the cake / cupcake as decoration
   
7. For loaft cake & regular size cupcakes, bake for about 15-25 minutes till cooked, golden brown & skewer comes out clean.
   
8. For mini cupcakes, bake for about 10-15 mins until skewer comes out clean.
   
9. Remove cake from the oven & leave to cool before serving

Super Nice & Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for Bryans birthday recently and thereafter, I've a couple of requests from friends and relatives for the recipe.

These cupcakes are really nice, moist & super chocolatety so if you love a good chocolate cupcake, I urge you to try this! Do fill it up high to 3/4 full as it will not rise much but the taste is really OOMPH!

Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes about 16 regular cupcakes & 12 Medium size Cupcakes.

Ingredients

50g Dutch-processed Cocoa Powder
240ml Boiling Hot Water
175g All Purpose Flour
2 tsps Baking Powder
½ tsp Salt
113g Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature
200g Caster Sugar
2 Large Eggs
2 tsps Vanilla Extract

Methods

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.
   
2. In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let it cool to room temperature.
   
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
   
4. With a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
   
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth.
   
6. Beat in the vanilla extract.
   
7. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Stop the mixer and make sure not to over mix.
   
8. Add the cooled cocoa mixture and using a spatula stir until smooth.
   
9. Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter.
   
10. Bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a skewer inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.
    
11. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
    
12. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.
    
13. You can either spread the frosting on the cupcakes with a small spatula or if piping, use a large Wilton 1M open star tip to make lovely swirls.