Bites and Pieces: Red Velvet Cupcakes

The last two days, I was a little busy trying to revamp my blog.. Now, I'm very happy with the new design but still have a few things I need to finish up. Well, what do you think??? hehe.. :)

When I visited other bloggers' websites, I was wondering how they do this and that in their blog. For hours, I was searching for Help. I saw the answers but I have to edit in the html editor. To tell you the truth, I am clueless about designing web page using html editor. It's just too confusing. However, I decided to give it a try. I followed as instructed, but in the end, it was all wrong.. It was a little frustrating but at the same time I think it was funny. I thought I could do it.. Not!!! ha..ha.. After all that, I realized I can do without editing from the html editor. *wink*

Anyway, here is what I baked for hubby on Valentine's Day. Red Velvet cupcakes. Bright red with chocolate flavor, topped with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles. They taste even better the next day.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Makes 12 Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp regular or Dutch-proceed cocoa powder

1/4 unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cups granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tbsp liquid red food coloring

1/2 tsp white distilled vinegar

1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 12 muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt and cocoa powder.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (abt 1-2 minutes). Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy (abt 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup, whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in 3 additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

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

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 18-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then remove from the pan. Let cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup cold heavy whipping cream

In a bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners' sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whop until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.

Spread the frosting with a knife or offset spatula or use a large 1M Wilton open star decorating tip to pipe the frosting.

Notes:

If you are unable to get buttermilk, you can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of white distilled vinegar, cider vinegar, or lemon juice to 1 cup of milk. Let this mixture stand 5 to 10 minutes before using.

Source: Joy of Baking