Red Velvet Cupcakes
Flirtatious & fun. Red Velvet Cupcakes are wonderful eye candy and a joy to bite into. Hints of chocolate, vanilla & buttermilk crowned with thick cream cheese buttercream make these little treats irresistible.
Servings: 12 -14
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 125 g/ 4oz Unsalted butter - very soft
- 125 g/ 4oz Caster sugar
- 125 g/ 4oz Plain (all purpose) flour
- ¾ teaspoon Baking powder
- 15 g/ 4 teaspoon (rounded) Cocoa powder
- ¾ teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoon Buttermilk
- 2 Large eggs - separated
- Red gel food colouring (⅛- ¼ teaspoon - depending on strength)
For the buttercream
- 90 g/ 3 ½ oz Unsalted butter
- 90 g/ 3 ½ oz Cream cheese
- 180 g/ 7oz Icing (confectionery sugar)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Garnish
- Chocolate flakes
- 12-14 Fresh strawberries - small are best
Instructions
Make the cupcakes
- Line a muffin tin with paper cases and preheat the oven to 170°C/ 325°F/ GM3
- Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy
- Add the yolks to the butter & sugar mix. Beat well
- Weight the flour, baking powder & cocoa into a bowl and sift into the cake batter
- Beat until just combined
- Add the buttermilk & the red food gel and mix in. (Don't go crazy with the colouring gel at first - add a little and see how strong it is. Add more as necessary & aim for the colour as depicted in my photograph above)
- Whisk the egg whites to the firm peak stage. Add a third of the whites to the cake batter and fold in using a large metal spoon. Add the remaining egg whites and fold in, very gently, until just incorporated
- Fill each cupcake case around ⅔ full with the batter and bake for 17-20 minutes until the cakes spring back when lightly pressed
- Allow to cool completely
Make the buttercream
- Beat the butter, vanilla extract and icing sugar together until smooth
- Add the cream cheese and beat again
- Put a generous spoonful of buttercream on top of each cupcake and spread out
- Sprinkle with chocolate flakes
- Just before serving, top with a fresh strawberry (stalk removed).
Notes
It is hard to specify exactly how much red colouring gel you will use, since brands vary. I used a cocktail stick to scoop out the gel - I plunged it in around 2cm and pulled it out, keeping as much gel on my stick as possible. I did this 4 times to reach the right colour (as shown in my photograph).