Kane's Kitchen - 6th March 2012 - Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Serves:  12  

Prep Time:  20 mins

Cook Time:  30 mins

What You’ll Need:

• 1¼ cups (125g) sifted plain flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 80g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¾ cup caster sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ tsp vanilla essence
• ½ cup (120ml) buttermilk
• 1 tbsp liquid red food colouring
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp baking soda

Cream Cheese Icing

• 175g cream cheese, room temperature
• 175g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essense
• 3 cups icing sugar, sifted

 What You’ll Need To Do:

1.        Preheat oven to 175°C and line a 12 hold muffin tin with cupcake liners. 

2.        In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder.

3.        In another bowl, beat the butter until soft (about 2 minutes).  Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and beat until incorporated.  Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

4.        Whisk the buttermilk with the red food colouring.  With the mixer on low speed, alternatively add the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the butter mixture.

5.        In a small cup, combine the vinegar and baking soda.  Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter. 

6.        Quickly divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, smoothing the tops with a spatula.  Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the muffin comes out clean. 

7.        Cool the cakes in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.

8.        Meanwhile, make the icing.  Beat the cream cheese and the butter together until smooth.  Add the vanilla and icing sugar and combine.  The mixture should be thick enough to pipe, if desired.  If it’s too runny, add more icing sugar. 

9.        Wait until the cupcakes have cooled completely.  Pipe the icing on and decorate with red sprinkles.