Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

 I've not really had much experience with red velvet cake, apart from one slice a while ago. I thought it was delicious but have only just got round to making some of my own. I used the hummingbird bakery recipe, and they turned out really well. I used another cream cheese icing that I've used in previous posts, as this always turns out really well for me and I love the subtle flavour of cream cheese. The cakes do take a LOT of red food colouring, so I think I'll only make them for special occasions, but still well worth a go if you fancy making them - and they look very impressive.  

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Recipe (makes about 8 large cupcakes)

• 60 g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 150 g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 20 g cocoa powder
• 40 ml red food colouring
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 120 ml buttermilk
• 150 g plain flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1½ tsp white vinegar

Cream Cheese Icing

250g icing sugar - sifted

62g unsalted butter (room temperature) 

62g cream cheese (good quality e.g. Philadelphia) 

Method

Preheat the oven to around 160c fan.

Whisk the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, and then whisk in the egg.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract to make a very thick, dark paste. Add this to the butter mix and stir until it is thoroughly combined. 

Add half the buttermilk, mix on slow speed (or slowly with spoon) until combined. Then stir in half of the flour. Repeat this process until you have used all of the flour and buttermilk. Mix well until it is all evenly combined. 

Add the bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar and mix well until combined and you have a nice smooth mixture. Pour this into cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. 

To make the cream cheese icing, sieve the icing sugar to get rid of any lumps. Then add the butter and cream cheese until just mixed. Be careful not to over mix as the cream cheese can quickly turn watery. 

Cut off a small section from the top of your cupcakes. Pipe or spoon on the cream cheese icing, and then crumble up the cake tops and sprinkle on top. And there you have it, red velvet cupcakes! Enjoy!

Liddie x