Tuesday 28 February 2012

Red Velvet Cupcakes


Bitten by the baking bug again. This time i'm onto Red Velvet Cupcakes. It's supposed to taste a bit chocolatey-sour and this recipe i found is just heavenly. I made a previous batch from Paula Deen and it's very yucky and not as beautiful looking.

I made a few tweaks to the sugar because i find most ang-moh recipes to be too sweet. (my comments in RED).

Makes 24 large, or 30 medium cupcakes
  • 2 1/4 cups flour (I use all-purpose)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2 1/4 cups sugar (REDUCED TO 2 cups)
  • 4 eggs (I find Singapore and China eggs small compared to ang-moh eggs so add 1 more to the recipe)
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with 2 teaspoons lemon juice) (I put 1 table spoon of vinegar in 1 cup, and then top it up with milk to 1 cup exactly and let stand for 5 mins)
  • 1 ounce red food coloring** (okay, that is a lot of red food coloring!) It doesn’t change the taste, so I only use 1 teaspoon unless the red color is really important to me. (I used Wilton's NO TASTE Red and it's good!)
  • 4 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
Cream Cheese Frosting (This has been revised to show the cream cheese and butter cold, resulting in a less runny frosting.) If you want the piled high frosting, like the picture, make 1 1/2 the recipe of frosting and pipe it on with a piping bag or ziploc bag (do not try to spread it with a knife).
  • 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, cold
  • 1/4 cup butter, cold
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 16 ounces confectioners’ sugar (I only used 1 cup++, 16 ounces will be ridiculously sweet IMO)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
  2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Spoon batter into 24 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
  3. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Gently remove from oven (these are super-moist, and will collapse if you aren’t careful). Cool in pans on wire rack at least 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting. (Do not frost until totally cooled, or the frosting will slide off!)
  4. Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting: With a high powered mixer (stand up mixer if you have one) beat cold cream cheese, butter, sour cream and Pure Vanilla Extract in large bowl until light and fluffy. Scrape bowl, and beat again. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Once smooth, turn beaters to high (I use my Kitchenaid) and whip on high for 5 minutes, until very fluffy. I am frequently asked how I get the piled high frosting. I do this with a piping bag, or a Ziploc bag with a 1 inch hole cut out of the corner will work perfectly. I always pipe the frosting on, instead of spreading it with a knife. That is how I get the tall pile of frosting. IF you do want the tall pile, I recommend doing 1 1/2 the recipe for frosting, to make sure you have enough.
  5. Frost the cupcakes generously, and serve at room temperature! If you make these, I hope you will drop me a comment and let me know how they turned out!
  6. In response to the comments who have had trouble with the frosting…These are the exact proportions I use. I do not add more sugar, or it will be very sweet, but it is important that the cream cheese and sour cream are cold. If the frosting is too runny, I recommend putting the frosting in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before piping it on. Also, your cupcakes MUST be totally cooled. The frosting may seem a little too moist at first, but if you can get it to form a pile, and leave the cupcake uncovered for 1 hour or so, it will form a slightly dry crust (not a bad crust, I promise), so it won’t seem so gooey. (I don't have a kitchen aid, my mixer is $30 from 5 years ago. It's gonna be hard and all the cheese will get stuck to the mixer but persevere!)

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