Red Velvet Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Well to begin I shall confess my red velvet cupcakes went without the "red velvet" (because I didn't have so much food colouring...)

But it was YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!!! Awesome recipe and oh-so-fluffy!!! I think it might be the cake flour used because it turned out really really soft and FLUFFY! I think I read somewhere about high protein or something content that makes it so different from plain flour... So yummy... and not too sweet at all! Add in the icing and its woahla~ yummm...

I made the exact portion as the recipe thinking it won't be that much until I read the part at the bottom that said "I made about 20"... but that was when I had already mixed in everything... haiii... I ended up with 12 big and 8 small cupcakes...

I was meant to split the batter and make choc-banana cupcakes, white chocolate swirl cupcakes, choc-chip cupcakes and so on... but I forgot -________-"" very genius I know ><" BUT I did remember to split the icing into different colours... hmmm... I used some of the plain cream coloured icing, and turned some pink... and as I couldn't be bothered to wash up I geniusly made purple!!! ^___^ and then I wanted brown... but after staring at the red, purple, yellow and green for a minute I still couldn't make up in my mind how to get brown -__- so COCOA POWDER!!! Now a private moment of "Ohhhh smart smart me"... kekeke...

And I FOUND GOLD at a local supermarket!!! MAXI! Yes... the place that looked a bit dodgy compared to the flashy Safeway 30 seconds down... But... THEY HAD REALLY AWESOME STUFF!!! I found this really really yummy thing called Vanilla Sugar... it smells divine... droolz... and also they had all these different types of flours, sugar and blah blah blah that was never seen at Safeway... (they had small sachets of baking powder and bi-carb soda in a proper container... aiii... note: I juse bought a container of baking powder that I needed 1% of and a paper box of bi-carb soda that leaked as soon as I bought it... sigh...)...

OH... Also I found this thing call marzipan which seem to supposed to work like fondant. So I tried it. It was sticky but seem to work well despite it smells kinda funny... I wonder who will try my one and only marzipan cupcake and tell me what it was like...

Hmmm... another highlight of the day was the $2 Dollar shop!!! After eBaying for ages for a cake holder I didn't see a satisfying one... BUTTTT I found one at the $2 Dollar Shop!!! For $4!!! And made in Melbourne!!! Hehehe... I also found cupcake cups - $2!!! Pastry brush - $2!!! Packet of 5 gift bags - $2.50!!! ... I shall stop before this starts to sound like one of those radios on repeat on Swanston St...

Okay... Recipe time... Degrees in F again... ><" (I'm so scarred...)

P.S. I only made half the frosting which frosted all 20 cupcakes ^___^"

P.P.S. 1 stick/quarter cup of butter is 113g

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 oz. red food coloring (two bottles) or 4 oz beet juice (if you use unprocessed light cocoa you can leave out the food dyes and you'll get a warm red/brown color)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins or silicone pans with cupcake liners.

2. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a smaller bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

4. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Be careful as it will fizz so don't do it in a shallow bowl. Add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Fill cupcake cups with cake batter until they are a little under 3/4 full. I ended up with 20 cupcakes. Place muffin tins in your preheated oven. Bake for approximately 20, rotating pans halfway through. The cupcakes are done when you are able to pat the tops and the cake springs back up. If it sinks down they are not yet complete. Or you can insert a toothpick into the center of a cupcake in the center of the tin and if it comes out clean they are done!

5. Cool the cupcakes in their tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely before frosting.

6. Enjoy!

http://bestcupcakerecipes.blogspot.com/2009/02/red-velvet-cupcake-recipe.html

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, room temperature

6-8 cups of powdered sugar

1/2 cup of milk

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1. In an electric mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment or if you don't have an electric mixing bowl use a large bowl and an electric mixer, mix the butter until smooth and creamy (a few minutes).

2. Add 4 cups of the sugar, the milk and vanilla and on low speed mix until combined.

3.Add two more cups of sugar and on low speed mix until light and fluffy. If you need to, add the remaining two cups of powdered sugar.

http://bestcupcakerecipes.blogspot.com/search/label/frosting%20recipes