Red Velvet Cupcakes

Okay, so this isn’t my recipe in any way, it comes from the beautiful Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook which has some wonderful and yummy recipes. I made these yesterday and as they turned out so good I want to share it with you.
Happy Baking!!

http://www.hummingbirdbakery.com

Ingredients: Makes 12
60g of butter
150g of sugar
1 egg
10g of cocoa powder
2 tablespoons of red food colouring
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
120ml of buttermilk – I’d never used this before until this week but it can be found with the cream in supermarkets.
150g of plain flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar (weird in a cake I know but it helps apparently..)

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas 3.
2) Put the butter and the sugar in to a mixing bowl. (You can use an electric whisk if you’d prefer) and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix again until it’s all combined thoroughly.
3) Then Sieve in the cocoa powder – mix. Add the red food colouring ( carefully!) and the vanilla extract – mix until the colour looks even throughout the mixture.
4) Slowly pour in half the buttermilk, beat until well mixed, then add half of the flour. Repeat this until you’ve used all the buttermilk and flour.
5) Add the salt, bicarb and vinegar. Beat well.
6) Spoon the mixture in to the prepared paper cases until two-thirds full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the sponge bounces back when touched. Leave the cupcakes to cool just a little before turning them out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting:
300g Icing sugar
50g butter
125g cream cheese – cold

Method:
1) Beat the icing sugar and the butter together until well mixed – an electric whisk is better for making this icing.
2) Add the cream cheese
3) Beat until it is completely incorporated. Keep beating the frosting until it is light and fluffy – up to 5 minutes (I only mixed mine for 3 minutes and it tastes just fine).
4) Spoon over the cold cupcakes, use a knife to spread it all over. I dusted cocoa powder on the top of my cupcakes, the only part of the recipe I came up with all by myself!

– Also, if you’ve any left over frosting, I’ve learnt from experience not to eat it all in one sitting….although I’ve always been a fan of frosting in between 2 digestive biscuits, you could try that!