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

Red velvet cupcakes and card (red) for hubby.

Box of chocolate, lovely card and rose for yours truly. 

Happy Fourth of July. Sweet tooth n comfort food!!!!!

It's Fourth of July, United States Independence Day. We got some fireworks and I was looking forward to play....Unfortunately, the weather is not so nice today, raining... we have to postpone to tomorrow's evening.. :( Well, in celebration of Fourth of July, I baked a yellow cake/cupcakes with a vanilla cream cheese frosting. The small heart cake was for us and the cupcakes were for his friends. It was sweet and delicious..... :)

Since it was raining today, I wanted to make some comfort food for dinner... so I had to browse my recipe books... I looked at my "Step by Step Comfort Food" by Bay Books. I always preferred recipes books with step by step instructions accompanied with pictures.... make it a little easy for me.. hehe... Well, I chose Shepherd's Pie for our dinner today... :)

Ingredients:
2lb 4 oz (1kg) potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 oz (30g) butter
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2lb 4 oz (1 kg) minced (ground) lamb - I used ground beef
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup (250ml) vegetable stock - I used beef stock
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 cup (155g) frozen peas

1. Cook the potatoes in large pan of boiling water for 15-20 mins, or until tender. Drain well and return potatoes to the pan over low heat. Remove from the heat, add the butter and milk, and mash until smoot. Season with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft an just beginning to color. Add the meat, increase the heat and cook until browned.

3. Add the carrot to the pan and cook for a few mins. Sprinkle on the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 min. Slowly add the stock, stiring constantly, Add the Worcestershire sauce. Bring to the boil and cook for 2-3 mins, or until the gravy thickens. Season to taste. Stir in the peas and transfer the mixture to a 8 cup(2 litre) ovenproof dish.

4. Spread the mash evenly over the meat, Use a fork to swirl the surface. Bake for 40-50 mins, or until the potato is golden.

My shepherd's pie in the oven for bake.......

After the bake, this is what it looks like......

Served with slices of bread and some prawn crackers..... ~~DELICIOUS~~

P.S: We were at our friend's house (around 5pm), when we were told about a terrible tragedy happened just a few hours ago..... about a former quarterback player, Steve McNair, who led the Tennessee Titans was found dead with multiple shots in Nashville. It was unbelievable. We were in Nashville on Friday and today, a famous ex-NFL was killed. This is so sad.... :( Our deepest sympathy on to his family. R.I.P.

Sweet & Simple Bakes (October) - Spooktacular - Halloween - Cupcakes

It's HALLOWEEN. I still remember when I was still working at Loof Bar last year, I had those artistic make up done by the expert. hehe..
Anyway for this month's challenge, it was Spooktacular - Halloween Cupcakes. My attempt to make this month's challenge, was good but not as spooky as what Rosie and Maria (Sweet and Simple Bakes) mentioned in the post. Well, by adding raisins and chocolate chip to the mixture, is that creative too?? Hmm.. I do not have the witch cookie cutter or pumpkin cookie cutter or the black color icing to decorate my cupcake. I used grapefruit icing and added orange color to it. The cut-outs were actually real cookie that I baked separately (unfortunately, they were slightly burnt because I forgot to turn the oven temperature down... lol). Besides using the normal cupcake cases, I used the mini paper cupcakes cases too because they look so cute.. mini.. ;)

Spooktacular - Halloween - Cupcakes!

Makes approximately 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
175g (6 oz / 1 &1/3 cups) self-raising flour
175g (6 oz /1 &1/2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
175g (6 oz / 1 cup) of caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 - 4 tbsp milk
Icing/frosting of your choice – go wild and make a statement
Decorations of your choice – the spookier the better :)

You will need a 12 hole-muffin tin and 12 cupcake paper cases

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Line a 12 hole-muffin tin with cupcake paper cases.

Sieve the flour into a bowl and leave aside. In a large mixing bowl add the butter and sugar and beat until the mixture becomes light in colour and fluffy. Add one egg at a time beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and then gently fold in the flour until combined. Stir in the milk until you have a good dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture equally into the prepared muffin tin and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 20 -25 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to completely cool.

Rosie’s notes:
1. Fill the cupcake paper cases no more than two-thirds full for the cupcakes to rise.
2. If the tops dome a little when completely cool, take a segregated knife and slice the domed tops off and discard, this enables flat tops for icing and decorations.
3. I have also measured my ingredients that I weighed out into cup measures as requested but please note if using, I cannot guarantee how accurate these measures are in cups.
4. If using plain flour because you cannot acquire self-raising flour add 1½ tsp of baking powder to the plain flour.

Though my cupcakes are not as spooky as they should be, but I tell you, they taste great!!! I am sure to make more of these cupcakes.. Thank you Rosie and Maria for this great recipe! :)
Check out the rest for the Spooktacular - Halloween - Cupcakes!!

Anyhoo, for the month of October, I was unable to complete one challenge from Cookie Carnival. But do check out for the October Round-Up here!

Have a good weekend everyone! :)