May 1-2, 2009: Ruby Velvet Cupcakes

Brownies weren't my alone contribution to the tea party. This party's premise was the 30th birthday of a rather keen lady, together with I felt compelled to scroll through my Dessert bookmarks for to a greater extent than inspiration. Red velvet cupcakes caught my eye. This version comes from Simply Recipes together with is written past times cupcake creative Garrett McCord - I'm a regular together with admiring reader of his other nutrient blog, Vanilla Garlic.

The 'red' inwards 'red velvet' doesn't come upward from raspberries, beetroot or whatever other produce; it's the biggest dose of ruby-red nutrient colouring yous mightiness e'er ingest inwards a sitting. The cake besides includes a lilliputian cocoa but doesn't convey a rigid chocolate season at all. These proved to locomote pleasant together with mild; it's their looks that are to a greater extent than memorable.

But, oh - the icing! Red velvet cake is iced non amongst traditional buttercream but amongst a cream cheese-based version. And it was the lightest, smoothest spoonful of sky I may e'er convey tasted. It seems probable that I volition never bother amongst buttercream in ane lawsuit to a greater extent than (though ganache volition in all likelihood even thence instruct a guernsey at other times together with places). Not ane for piping, I slathered it onto the cupcakes amongst a teaspoon together with rather liked the effect.

Garrett's recipe is a fabulous rendition of a southern U.S. of A. favourite. The cake has a lovely texture, but I reckon it's the icing that's the absolute keeper - I'm looking forwards to teaming it amongst other flavours.

Red velvet cupcakes amongst cream cheese icing
(a halved, metric-fied, together with Aussie-spelled version of Garrett McCord's recipe at Simply Recipes)

cake:
3/4 loving cup sugar
60g butter, softened
1 egg
1 1/6 cups evidently flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 loving cup buttermilk
3/4 tablespoon ruby-red nutrient colouring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar

icing:
60g butter, softened
120g cream cheese, softened
1 - 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Set 10-12 cupcake papers into a cupcake baking tray.

Cream together the butter together with carbohydrate until lite together with fluffy. (I had existent problem amongst this! Most probable because my butter hadn't softened enough.) Beat inwards the egg thoroughly.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, bicarb soda, baking pulverization together with salt. In a 2nd smaller bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla together with ruby-red nutrient colouring.

Gradually together with alternately musical rhythm out the flour together with buttermilk mixtures into the sugar/butter/egg mixture, until the cake batter is polish together with homogeneous.

Spoon the batter into the lined cupcake tray, filling each loving cup close two-thirds full. Bake for 18-22 minutes, checking them amongst a skewer. Allow the cakes to cool earlier icing them.

For the icing, cream together the butter together with cheese, thence musical rhythm out inwards the vanilla. Gradually musical rhythm out inwards the icing carbohydrate until the sweetness is to your sense of savour (I works life that 1 loving cup of icing carbohydrate was exactly right). Slather the icing onto the cupcakes.