Recipe of the Week | Red Velvet

Red Velvet Cupcakes 1

This was a wonderful surprise gift from a lovely friend, Nyla aka Kulchibeauty on YouTube (check out her hair and make-up videos - they are amazing!). She got me two great big books for more inspiration! Yay!

So here is one I tried last week. I have made red velvet several times this year and I have used other recipes. I will share those as we proceed in the year and give my verdict on my favourite. This recipe is from Lola's Forever by my Namesake bakery, Lola's cupcakes. They also feature a gluten-free one which I will also try (since I have the rice flour already!). I tweaked the recipe to reduce the sugar content (tweaks in pink). I used my own favourite cream cheese icing recipe (75g unsalted butter, 125g Icing sugar and 250g of medium-fat (Philadelphia light) Cream Cheese.
So without much further ado....

Prep time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 18-22 minutes
Makes 12 - 15 cupcakes

Ingredients:
110g unsalted Butter
160g Caster/ granulated Sugar (80g light brown + 70g caster sugar)
1 teaspoon Vanilla bean paste (1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1/2 teaspoon Red food colouring paste (2 tspns Cochineal red food colour)
1 Egg
3 tablespoons Sunflower oil
3/4 tablespoons White wine vinegar/freshly squeezed lemon juice (red wine vinegar)
35g dark/bittersweet Chocolate, melted
190g Plain/all-purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda/ Baking soda
3/4 tablespoon Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
70mls Single/light Cream ( sour cream)
70mls Full-fat/ Whole milk (Almond milk)
35g Ground Almonds

Cream Cheese Icing
60g Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla bean paste
200g Icing/confectioner's sugar
400g Full-fat Cream Cheese

Method:
1)  Preheat oven to 180oC/ 160oC Fan/350oF/Gas 4. Line a muffin pan
     with 12 muffin cases.
2) Mix the butter, sugar and vanilla bean paste in a large bowl until light
     and fluffy. Add the food colouring paste and the egg, mixing slowly until
     combined.
3) Beat in the oil and vinegar followed by the melted chocolate.
4) Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder together in
    a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the batter, a little at a time,
    alternating with the cream and milk until you have a soft batter.
5) Finally add the ground almonds and mix until a smooth and uniform
    colour is achieved. Scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber
    spatula and mix again. Do not over-mix.
6) Using an ice-cream scoop, divide the mixture between the muffin cases,
    filling them to almost 2/3rd full. Bake in the preheated oven for 18-22
    minutes or until risen and a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out
    clean.
7) Transfer to a wire rack for cooling.

Icing method:
1) Place the butter in a large bowl and beat until soft and smooth (electric
    whisk, by hand or in a stand mixer).
2) Add the vanilla bean past and sift in the icing sugar.
3) Add the cream cheese and beat (medium to high speed for 30 seconds)
    until smooth and glossy). Do not over-mix.
4) Spoon the icing into a piping/pastry bag (fitted with a large star
    nozzle/tip) and  pipe a swirl onto each cupcake. Alternatively, spread
    the cream icing onto each cupcake using a palette knife or metal
    spatula.
5) Crumble by hand or blitz one un-iced cupcake in a food processor and
    sprinke the red velvet cake crumbs onto each cupcake to decorate. You
    can store left-overs in an airtight container but allow it to dry out first.

All done!

Ps: there are no cupcakes left! Even my younger brother ate two by himself (he's usually a hard sell!).