Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes. Where should I begin? This cupcake has been so highly requested by many. So here's a tutorial for a really simple Red Velvet Cupcake that doesn't require much effort. You don't even need an electronic mixer for this! This recipe is totally manageable without it. A sturdy spatula is all you need. I adapted this recipe from one that Karen Yee shared.  

This recipe will take you about 1h 15 minutes to 1 h 30 minutes to prepare and I'm rating it a 2 out of 5 for difficulty level.

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe

This recipe yields around 10 - 12 cupcakes of base 4.8cm

CUPCAKE

165g plain flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3 tbsp cocoa powder

55g unsalted butter

145g castor sugar

2 eggs (55 - 60g eggs)

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 tsp white vinegar

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste

1 tbsp Wilton gel RED food coloring

1/2 tbsp Wilton gel PINK food colouring

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

250g cream cheese

110g unsalted butter

165g icing sugar

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste

12 cupcake liners (base: 4.8cm)

CUPCAKE

Preheat oven to 175 degree Celsius. Have the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt in a bowl. Stir to combine.

Allow butter to 'warm' up to almost room temperature (I usually cube my chilled butter and let it thaw for 10 minutes in room temperature) and add the castor sugar. Using a sturdy spatula, hand whisk the mixture. It should be relatively easy to whisk it, just that you need a little determination and strength. 

You will get a well-mixed mixture like this. 

Add in one egg and mix well.

Add in another egg and mix well.

This is the buttermilk I used.

Add in the buttermilk, white vinegar and vanilla bean paste. Try using vanilla bean paste rather than vanilla essence/extract as it tastes so much better. The other two are just so artificial. 

Add in the red and pink food colouring and mix well.

You should get a vibrant mixture like this! 

Add in 1/2 of the flour mixture and mix well.

Add in the other half and mix well. You may wish to switch to a hand whisk to have better control of the mixture. Else, a spatula works too!

You should get a thick batter like this. I don't like the messiness of scooping batter into cupcake cups so I scooped my batter into a piping bag and piped my batter into the cups.

Fill the cupcake cups about 2/3 full. You should get around 10 - 12 cups. 

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes till it's fully cooked or till a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. I usually test one cupcake from each row to be sure. Place on wire rack to allow it to cool completely. 

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Have the cream cheese come close to room temperature in a mixing bowl for about 10 minutes. You may cube it to allow it to 'thaw' faster. Using a spatula/hand whisk (I prefer a spatula), whisk it vigorously by hand to cream it. 

Add cubed butter of room temperature (cube and thaw in room temperature for 10 mins) into cream cheese and whisk vigorously.

Add in icing sugar and vanilla bean paste. The specks you see in the cream cheese frosting is the vanilla bean paste. It may look 'unclean' but it sure will taste better! Mix well!

You should get something like this. Scoop into piping bag fitted with a large round tip. I didn't use a Wilton tip for this but my tip had a diameter of 7mm. 

Pipe a small 'mountain' in the middle of the cupcake. Then, pipe around the sides and gradually move upwards using the 'mountain' as a support. This image may help: 

NOTE

1) You may prepare the cupcakes the night before and leave in covered with a food cover in a cool dry place. I prepared the cream cheese frosting the following morning.

3) As the cupcakes consist of cream cheese, I would HIGHLY recommend that you keep them chilled until you are ready to serve them. 

So, this recipe is just so simple and easy to do! Why not try it out today? (:

Here are a few other alternative recipes that you may fancy: 

Rainbow Pushpops

Red Velvet Pushpops

Rainbow Cupcakes II

I'd love to see the bakes or stuff you've cooked using the blog's recipe! Do share photos of stuff you've baked or cooked using the blog's recipe with me either via FB message to http://facebook.com/limcynthia OR http://facebook.com/thebakingbiatch OR via email at cynthia.lim.hl@gmail.com! I look forward to hearing from you! (: