Red Velvet Cupcakes

I am so proud of these sexy little cupcakes. I love them!

I had no idea that these tasty treats even existed until I saw a Nigella episode on them last year. She made the whole thing look very complicated and far too tricky for me to consider anything apart from "wow".

When we went to America I made a point of visiting Georgetown Cupcakes from the television show DC Cupcakes and tasted one of their delicious Red Velvet Cupcakes (along with 5 other amazing flavours). The texture of the cake was so smooth, the cake itself was moist and the cream cheese frosting gave the whole thing a deliciously melty sensation. Again all I could think was "wow".

A few weeks ago I decided it was time to make these little beauties myself. I was very quickly deterred when I saw the ingredient list. Vinegar? Buttermilk? Cocoa Powder?

The whole thing just seemed like it would be one big mess in a bowl but it's the chemistry in these ingredients that makes these cakes so cool and eventually I just wanted to try them so bad that I cracked, went out and found buttermilk (miracle!) and went ahead and made them for my students for the last day of school. They were pretty good - very moist and just the right combination of chocolate and...not chocolate. I made them again for Easter Friday for Mr B's family and they were unbelievably good. I got comments like "You made these? From scratch?" which always makes me glow a little!

Before I get into this a few things that I have discovered:

Vanilla Extract - there seems to be several varieties of this as well as Vanilla Essence. I have discovered concentrated vanilla extract. It is very thick and rich in colour. It is a little more expensive but the results are very noticeable. You get a really nice rich vanilla flavour and, while some recipes say that you should probably halve the quantity when using the concentrate, it is delicious and I use the full amount.

Originally the red colouring is created by a chemical reaction between the cocoa powder and the buttermilk, but now, even though this still takes place, the really rich red colour obviously comes from food colouring. Many recipes suggest the gels I used the liquid and it worked perfectly well and gave my cupcakes a nice bright colour on the outside and a smoother more chocolatey red on the inside.

How you approach making these is up to you but I like to do things in a certain way as I feel it all comes together a bit better. This requires using several bowls but I feel the end result is worth the extra washing up.

Okay, here they are, these awesome, tasty and cute cupcakes - perfect for any occasion!

What you need

2 cups plain flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon bicarb soda

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1 cup buttermilk

200g soft butter

2 eggs

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon red food

Frosting

350 grams cream cheese

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

80 grams soft butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to do it

Heat 180 degree oven. In a large bowl combine the flour and cocoa powder.

In another bowl use an eclectic mixer to beat the butter and sugar together. Add in the eggs and vanilla and continue to beat until combined. Include the buttermilk and mix with a spoon to combine.

Tip the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Add the red food colour and fold in to the mixture.

Finally add in the bicarb soda and add the vinegar in on top, this should make this fizz a little. Mix it all together and make sure it is all well combined – if it is lumpy use a handheld whisk.

Tip this velvety mixture into a prepared cupcake tin and pop in the oven. As they cook these cupcakes rise quite high and then tend to fall so watch them and you can pretty much predict when they are ready but generally give them about 20min and use a small skewer inserted into the centre or the “bounce back” test to make sure they are ready.

They need a while to cool so prepare frosting during this time. Using an eclectic mixer beat the cream cheese until it is smooth and creamy, add the butter and vanilla and mix to combine. Slowly add the icing sugar until frosting is at desired thickness.

Use a piping bag to add icing on top and decorate as you wish.

Love it!