Sunday 1 March 2009

Red velvet cupcakes with vanilla buttercream



This may shock you but I’d never had a proper red velvet cake before; I think I was always turned off by the cream cheese frosting because, while I love cream cheese in a cheesecake I’ve never been a fan of it in frosting.

Red cupcakes! I have no idea of the significance on dying them red...other than it couldn’t be called red velvet cake!


This recipe featured on a national newspaper’s website and was billed as the Magnolia Bakery’s recipe. I can’t vouch for that but it was certainly a nice cake and didn’t use cream cheese in the frosting. Their recipe did include a buttercream but it was so sweet that even I couldn’t stomach it, so I picked a buttercream recipe from my stash of cookbooks.

Yes, this is edible glitter:


The cupcake turned out far denser than other cupcakes I have made and ultra moist. It had a rich taste which is probably due to it using far more ingredients than a normal cupcake.


The recipe set out below makes 24 cupcakes but I halved it, even down to using only 1.5 eggs, and it worked perfectly.

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes (makes 24):
165g unsalted butter, at room temperature
500g caster sugar
3 eggs
6 tablespoons red food colouring
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
330ml buttermilk
500g plain flour
1.5 teaspoons cider vinegar
1.5 teaspoons baking powder

For the buttercream (if you like lashings of buttercream you may want to double the quantities):
175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
350g icing sugar
3 tablespoons boiling water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until well combined and pale.
- Beat the eggs in one by one.
- Beat in the red colouring, cocoa powder and vanilla.
- Beat in a third of the buttermilk, followed by a third of the flour and repeat until both are completely added to the mix.
- In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking powder then stir into the batter.
- Spoon into the paper cases and bake for approx 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Mine took 25 minutes.
- Leave to cool on a wire rack.
- Now make the buttercream: beat the butter until it is soft.
- Beat in the icing sugar.
- Beat in the boiling water and vanilla and beat until the buttercream is smooth and pale.
- Spread over the top of the cupcakes.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.

11 comments:

Sara said...

These look delicious! I'm still searching for the perfect red velvet cupcake recipe, I'll have to give yours a try.

Elizabeth said...

Wow - that is the reddest red velvet cake I've ever seen. (Maybe it is just my monitor.)

If you don't like cream cheese frosting, what do you put on carrot cake?

Everything looks yummy though. Thanks for the vicarious calories.

Calamity Cookie said...

I made Red Velvet Cupcakes once but couldn't stomach them because all I kept thinking about was how much red food colouring there was in there!

Maggie said...

I've always thought about making red velvet cupcakes but have never got round to it - I think the grandchildren would love red cupcakes!
The cider vinegar is interesting - there is obviously something scientific going on with this recipe - buttermilk and vinegar!
Where did you get the red sparkles from please Cake Crusader?

The Caked Crusader said...

Hi Margaret

I got my sprinkles from Splat Cooking. Here's a link:
http://store.splatcooking.net/sprinkles-sugars-and-glitters/glitters-edable-art

It's actually edible glitter and is more sparkly than ordinary sprinkles. Splat is a great site for all cupcake related stuff.

♥Rosie♥ said...

Awesome C.C. I just adore these little cupcakes!!

Rosie x

glamah16 said...

I have yet to try these famous Magnoilia bakery cupcakes. I do like a nice crean=m cheese frosting. Im glad you you found a more palatable buttercream. Sweetness overkill can ruin a perfectly good cake.

Y said...

Your cake puts the red in red velvet! I've never made or even tried red velvet cake before either, mostly because I was a little scared of the colouring. (I broke out in a rash once, after eating too many red coloured sweets :P) I love the dramatic contrast between the white icing and the red cake though.

Big Boys Oven said...

te colors looks so awesome! just simple red! yummy!

Premyscakes said...

Wow red velvet cake looks so inviting with buttercream topping which looks like ice cream for me.

Anonymous said...

hi CC,
i just made these last night and tasted one a minute ago.
they certainly are very dense textured, i was wondering if maybe they need more bicarb to make them fluffier? yours in the photo look fluffier than mine. :) however the flavour is nice and the buttercream is great. :)
keep up the crusading!
cheers, cait.