Red velvet cupcakes

As I mentioned in my last post I've been thinking about Valentine's Day and so I thought it was about time I actually tried baking the cupcakes I am planning to sell. I decided on red velvet because of their name, their taste and their fantastic colour. They also seem a little bit more indulgent than normal vanilla, chocolate or lemon.

The recipe I used came from the Hummingbird Bakery via a telegraph.co.uk article and while a little more of a faff than my usual throw-everything-into-the-KitchenAid-and-turn-it-on recipes, it wasn't difficult. It also had more exotic ingredients than I'm used to with buttermilk, vinegar, bicarb of soda and, gasp, a whole tablespoon of red food colouring (of which more later).

My special little helper gave me a hand with the cakes, which mainly consists of pouring things into the mixing bowl. She gets very frustrated with me making cakes to sell because I've decided it's probably best if she doesn't help me with those. She's still much more keen on sneezing into the bowl than a tissue and I'm not all that keen on scrapping batches of cake batter. So today Betty got to play at baking with me. The biggest difference about these cakes to my usual all-in method was the careful mixing of a bit here and a bit there that the recipe demands. I'm sure at some point I'll think 'to hell with it!' and fling it all in the bowl and hope for the best but I decided to do as I was told for once and follow the recipe to the letter. This decision led directly to the most exciting part of the batter-making and the near-disaster of the frosting making, but again, more of that later.

At one point you have to mix the buttermilk with the vinegar, vanilla extract and food colouring. The vivid red of the resultant mixture was an absolute joy to behold. It was also a thick paint-like texture that was really, really satisfying. I only wish I'd been able to photograph it but my husband had taken the digital camera into work so you'll have to take my word for it until I make another batch . Honestly, I stood looking at the bright red mixture for ages until Betty tugged my arm and said, pointedly, 'Shall we mix it then, Mummy?!'

The cakes came out fabulously - just the right height in the case, springy to the touch. Ace! Then it was time to make the cream cheese frosting. I've only made this once before and it tasted great but was very gloopy. The recipe I used (which I thought was the Hummingbird one but have subsequently been told wasn't) said to stick everything in a processor and whizz it, so I did. BIG mistake. The butter had been out of the fridge all day but obviously wasn't soft enough because the frosting ended up with little lumps of butter in. Gah! It didn't affect the taste but it didn't look great. It was also still really gloopy, even after two hours in the fridge, and there was no way I would be able to pipe it, which is my usual decorating style. On speaking to other cupcakers I've discovered that cream cheese frosting is probably not going to be viable for cupcakes that I sell, so I've decided to use normal buttercream. But I got to use some of my new decorations on them and now I know that the sponge recipe is a winner.

RED VELVET CUPCAKES (from the Hummingbird Bakery book)
5oz/140g self-raising flour
2tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
4floz/110ml buttermilk
1tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1tbsp red food colouring
2oz/60g butter at room temperature
6oz/170g caster sugar
1 large egg

1 Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cases.

2 In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, bicarb and a pinch of salt.

3 In a mug, mix the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and red food colouring.

4 Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg a little at a time.

5 Mix in a third of the flour mixture, followed by half the buttermilk mixture, then another third of the flour, the rest of the buttermilk and finally the rest of the flour mixture.

6 Divide the mixture between the paper cases. Bake for 20 minutes or until risen and springy - don't overcook them.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING (from who knows where?!)
11oz/300g cream cheese
2oz/60g butter at room temperature
1tsp vanilla extract
12oz/340g icing sugar

1 Whizz all the ingredients together in a food processor. Chill or an hour or so before using.

NB. If I make the frosting again (which I probably will, it did taste lovely) I'll play about with the measurements of the ingredients a bit. And I'll definitely blitz the hell out of the butter first, then mix in the cream cheese, then add the icing sugar and vanilla extract. Oh, and I was advised by others not to overmix it because that's what makes it really gloopy.