Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes – Baked NYC

After my trip to London to see my brother, where I had a great Red Velvet Cupcake, I  decided I wanted to try my hand at them. For a recipe I turned to my new favourite  cookbook “Baked: New Frontiers In Baking”. They’re recipe calls to use a boiled  flour cinnamon frosting, but I have a soft spot for Vanilla Cream Cheese frosting so I went with that.

The problem with using a recipe from an American book is that they sometimes call for ingredients that are either uncommon or not available here in the UK. In this case it was Cake Flour I couldnt get hold of. The nearest thing I could get was called “supreme sponge which is exactly what I could have used except for the fact it is a self rising type. I used a workaround that Matt Lewis of Baked suggested, to replace 2 tablespoons of the all purpose flour with cornflour, which I did and which worked great.

Frosting Recipe

450 g – Cream Cheese

6 Tblsp – Unsalted Butter, softened cut up into pieces

1 1/2 tsp – Vanilla Extract

5 Cups – Sifted Icing Sugar

1. With either a hand  or Stand mixer on medium beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy, around 3 minues.

2. Add the vanilla and beat in well.

3. Add the sugar, one cup at a time, beating continuously until smooth and creamy .

4. Refrigerate until ready to use but not more than 3 hours.

Cupcake Recipe

1/4 Cup – Dark Unsweetend Cocoa Powder

2 Tablespoon – Red gel food colouring ( I used the more liquid type as I forgot to buy gel – worked fine)

1/4 Cup – Boiling Water

6 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter, softened, cut into small pieces

2 Tablespoons – Vegetable Shortening, at room temp (available in the UK as Trex or White Flora)

1 2/3 Cups – Sugar

3 – Large Eggs

1 Cup – Buttermilk

1 Teaspoon – Fine Salt

1 Tablespoon – Cider Vinegar

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

2 1/2 Cups Cake Flour

1. Preheat oven to 325f and put liners in your pan.

2. In a small bowl whisk together the cocoa, colouring, boiling water and set aside.

3. In the bowl of your mixer (or with a hand mixer if you haven’t bought yours yet – that would be me) bream the butter and shortening until smooth.

4. Scrape down the bowl and add the sugar, beat until light and fluffy – about 5 minutes.

5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

6. Stir the buttermilk into the cooled cocoa mixture.

7. Sift the flour and salt together into another bowl. With the mixer on low add the flour and coca mixtures into the egg mixture in 3 additions starting and finishing with the flour. Beat until incorporated.

8. In a small bowl mix the cider vinegar and baking soda until the soda dissolves. The mixture will fix. Add to the batter just till combined.

9. Divide into your cupcake papers (I used just under a third a cup per paper – made 20) and bake until a toothpick comes out clean around 20 mins.

10. Once the cupcakes are cooled completely and the frosting has sat in the fridge a while, frost the cakes and let sit a while or if you cant wait eat now