Bringing in the love with Red Velvet Cupcakes

Well what can I say. Love is in the air, its everywhere - Its in the over priced flowers and in the long wait times at restaurants on valentines. But that's the realist in me. The romantic in me of course wore RED to work, enjoyed a take out dinner and movie with my husband in the comfort of our home and finally tried my hand at the red velvet cake :)

When I first laid my eyes on this cake the color just shocked me enough to think that if it ain't brown it ain't no good. Of course that opinion was totally biased because of my love for chocolate. And then I tried it once at a friends place and kind of liked it. There is a light chocolate flavor to it...YIPPEE !!!!

This year I decided to be predictable and make something pink or red for the day, of course the first thing that came to my mind was that red velvet cake. Having browsed through endless recipes, the comments on the shocking amount of food color that goes into making this cake, and the opinions on cream cheese frosting versus regular whipped cream frosting, I decided to make cupcakes with a regular cream cheese frosting. I always have used regular frosting and wanted to try the cream cheese for a change.

Ended up that people were right. Its got a tang and requires a lot more sugar to make it sweet. I liked it but next time around I am going to stick to regular whipped cream frosting.

Ingredients: (makes about 10 cupcakes)

1 1/4cups all purpose flour
2 Tbs corn starch
1 Tbs cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 Tbs liquid red food coloring
1/2 tsp white distilled vinegar
 
Direction:

Preheat the oven to 350 degree and line a muffin pan with paper liner.
In a large bowl beat the egg, sugar and butter at room temperature with a hand blender. Once its creamy add salt, baking soda, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, corn starch and beat for a few seconds. Add the red food coloring and the mix well with a spatula. Be careful not to get the color on your counters or on yourself.

Once the color has been mixed well, add the flour and buttermilk in alternate batches and beat to mix well. Finally add the vinegar and beat for a few seconds scrapping down the sides of the bowl.

Fill the lined muffin pan with the cake batter adding a little more than half way through in each cup. I got enough batter to fill regular sized 10 cups. Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick through the center comes out clean. Top with frosting and serve.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl beat the cream cheese until it is smooth. Add the vanilla extract and mix well. Now add 1/2 cup sugar and 1/3 heavy chipping cream and beat with a hand blender. Start at a low speed and increase the speed until the mixture thickens. you might need to add a little more sugar and/or cream to get the right consistency and sweetness. So be sure to check in between.

bon appetit !!!