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Red Velvet Cupcakes

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Red Velvet Cupcakes

What is it about red velvet that people love so much? The dessert has surged in popularity over the past few years and The Hummingbird Bakery sell around 440,000 Red Velvet Cupcakes every year! I’ve made Red Velvet Cupcakes a few times in the past, so I really wanted to share my recipe with you as it is absolutely delicious, and it’s such a perfect dessert for Valentine’s Day. My two favourite things about red velvet are firstly the bright vibrant colour – it’s so attractive and appealing. Secondly – cream. cheese. frosting! Need I say more?! Cream cheese frosting is absolutely heavenly! If you want to find the way to my heart, presenting me with some Red Velvet Cupcakes is a pretty good way to start!

Jump straight to the recipe!

I started by creaming together the butter and sugar, then I whisked in the eggs, buttermilk and red food colouring.

I added the cocoa powder and flour and whisked them in.

Then I divided the mixture between the cupcake cases. I decided to use white cases so the red of the sponge could be seen through the sides.

They baked for 20 minutes, then I put them on a rack to cool fully.

To make the cream cheese frosting I mixed together butter, icing sugar, cream cheese and vanilla extract until smooth.

I piped the frosting on top of the cupcakes, then added some cute little heart sprinkles.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

These Red Velvet Cupcakes are so light and fluffy, and the cream cheese frosting on top is an absolute dream! I’m usually quite happy to just have one slice or piece of my bakes, then give the rest away, but I wanted to eat several of these gorgeous Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

If you can’t hold of buttermilk, you can use milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice added, leave it for a few minutes until it goes lumpy. I use rainbow dust food colouring to get a vibrant red colour and you can find this on Amazon (see link below).

      

I’m linking this recipe up with Recipe of the Week hosted by A Mummy Too, Cook Blog Share hosted by Recipes Made Easy, Baking Crumbs hosted by Only Crumbs Remain, Bake of the Week hosted by Casa Costello, and Fiesta Fridays hosted by Everyday Healthy Recipes and Life Diet Health.

 

5 from 5 votes
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Red Velvet Cupcakes

Servings 12

Ingredients

For the sponge

  • 175 g Butter or baking spread
  • 175 g Caster sugar
  • 2 Eggs
  • 65 ml Buttermilk
  • 175 g Self raising flour
  • 1 tbsp Cocoa powder
  • Red food colouring

For the cream cheese buttercream

  • 120 g Butter or baking spread
  • 280 g Icing sugar
  • 160 g Full fat cream cheese
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • Heart sprinkles Optional

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and line a muffin/cupcake tin with cupcake cases

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl with a wooden or silicone spoon

  3. Add the eggs, buttermilk and enough red food colouring to get a very bright red colour, and whisk them in

  4. Add the cocoa powder and flour, whisk in

  5. Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases

  6. Bake for 20 minutes, then put them on a rack to cool fully

  7. To make the cream cheese frosting use an electric hand whisk to mix together the butter and icing sugar, when they start to come together, add the cream cheese and vanilla extract and mix until smooth

  8. Pipe or spread the frosting on top of the cupcakes, then add sprinkles of your choice

  9. Store in the fridge and eat within 3 days

You can find more of my Cupcake recipes by clicking here!

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Halloween Cupcakes

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Halloween Cupcakes
Happy Halloween! I love celebrating Halloween and have decorated both my home and office already. It’s such a fun time of year and a great opportunity to get creative with baking. I love the look of these cupcakes, although I did struggle with the recipes I followed. I got a book called ‘A Zombie Ate My Cupcake’ for my birthday and used a few recipes out of it to make the different elements of the cupcakes. My sugar glass went a bit wrong, I found the cherry ‘blood’ sauce to be to jelly like, and the sponge was quite dense. I’ll go through what I did anyway as they did taste good!

I started with the sugar glass. First I covered a baking tray in foil and brushed it all over with oil.

In a large pan I heated up 500ml water, 785g granulated sugar, 250ml liquid glucose and 1/2 tsp cream of tartar. I let the mixture boil until it reached 300F.

I think my thermometer is slightly off as the sugar slightly caramelised and went golden. It is meant to stay clear! I also think you need two baking trays for this as the sugar was very thick. Pour it in and leave to cool for a couple of hours. When I bashed it up into shards it was much too thick for one single shard in the cupcake, so I used several smaller ones instead.

To make the sponge I first mixed 60g butter, I used Stork, and 140g caster sugar together. I added 1 large egg and mixed in. Then I added 30g cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, and some Sugarflair Extra Red food colouring. After that I added 120ml buttermilk and 225g plain flour. Finally 1/2 tsp cider vinegar and 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda.

It was a very thick mixture and not the kind of cake batter I’m used to seeing. I spooned it into 12 muffin cases.

I baked on 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for 15 minutes.

To make the cherry sauce I gently heated 125g mashed up tinned black cherries, 50g caster sugar, 120ml juice from the cherries, 1/2 tsp lime juice and 1 tbsp cornflour.

I brought it to the boil and let it bubble for about 5 minutes until thick. I then sieved it.

As the cherry sauce was so jelly like, I decided to core the cupcakes and use it as a filling!

To decorate the clawed cupcakes (an idea I saw on Pinterest!) I rolled out some white icing and cut out cupcake sized circles. I used a little bit of buttercream to help it stick and placed it over the cupcake sponge. I used a knife to make rough scratches in the icing. Then I dipped a cocktail stick in red food colouring and dragged it along the scratches.

For the broken glass cupcakes I made some buttercream with 80g butter, 160g icing sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. I piped it on with a star nozzle, stabbed the cake with some of the sugar glass shards and drizzle over some shop bought strawberry sauce I had in the cupboard.

To decorate the brain cupcakes I made some buttercream with 80g butter, 160g icing sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and some pink food colouring. I smoothed it over the cupcake then using a plain circular nozzle I pipe a line down the middle and squiggly bits down each side.

I’m linking up to Choclette’s We Should Cocoa challenge, this month hosted by Honey & Dough, where the theme is Halloween.

 

Halloween Cupcakes
October-23-2014
Ingredients
  • 500ml Water
  • 785g Granulated sugar
  • 250ml Liquid glucose
  • 1/2 tsp Cream of tartar
  • 220g Butter
  • 190g Caster sugar
  • 1 Egg
  • 30g Cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
  • A pinch of Salt
  • Red food colouring
  • 120ml Buttermilk
  • 225g Plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/2 tsp Cider vinegar
  • 245g Tinned black cherries
  • 1/2 tsp Lime juice
  • 1 tbsp Cornflour
  • 320g Icing sugar
  • Strawberry sauce
  • 100g White fondant
  • Pink food colouring
Instructions
Start with the sugar glass. Cover a baking tray with a lip in foil and brushed it all over with oil
In a large pan heat up the water, granulated sugar, liquid glucose and cream of tartar. Let the mixture boil until it reaches 300F on a candy thermometer
Pour it into the baking tray and leave to cool for a couple of hours. Bash it up into shards once cool
To make the sponge mix 60g of the butter and 140g of the caster sugar together. Add the egg and mix in. Then add the cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp of the vanilla extract, salt, and red food colouring. After that add the buttermilk and plain flour. Finally mix the cider vinegar and bicarbonate of soda together and add to the batter
Spoon into 12 muffin cases. Bake on 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for 15 minutes
To make the cherry sauce, gently heat the tinned black cherries including the juice in the can, 50g of the caster sugar, the lime juice and the cornflour
Bring it to the boil and let it bubble for about 5 minutes until thick. Then sieved it. Core the cupcakes and fill with the sauce
For the broken glass cupcakes make some buttercream by mixing 80g of the butter, 160g of the icing sugar and 1/2 tsp of the vanilla extract. Pipe it on with a star nozzle, stab the cake with some of the sugar glass shards and drizzle over some strawberry sauce
To decorate the clawed cupcakes roll out the white icing and cut out cupcake sized circles. Use a little bit of the buttercream to help it stick and place the icing over the cupcake sponge. Use a knife to make rough scratches in the icing. Then dip a cocktail stick in red food colouring and drag it along the scratches
To decorate the brain cupcakes make some buttercream by mixing 80g of the butter, 160g of the icing sugar, 1/2 tsp of the vanilla extract and some pink food colouring. Smooth thin layer over the cupcake then using a plain circular nozzle pipe a line down the middle and squiggly bits down each side

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

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Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

I am a huge fan of cheesecake brownies as they combine two delicious desserts into one even more delicious dessert! These Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies combine moist fudgey brownies with creamy vanilla cheesecake. If you like brownies and you like cheesecake, you will love them! They’re so easy to make too and you need relatively little equipment. The bright red is really eye catching and they would be perfect at a bake sale or for Valentine’s Day!

Jump straight to the recipe!

To start, I made the cheesecake filling and set it aside.

For the brownie batter I first whisked the eggs and sugar together.

Then I added the melted butter, vanilla, vinegar and red food colouring.

Lastly I whisked in the flour, cocoa powder and salt.

I poured the brownie batter into the lined tin, added the cheesecake mixture in blobs on top, then used a butter knife to swirl the mixture together.

It baked for 30 minutes, then I left it to cool completely before slicing up.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

The Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies looked so pretty and colourful! The white cheesecake swirl against the red brownie is so striking.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

They’re also super moist and fudgey – just what you want from a brownie! And the cheesecake is so creamy and absolutely scrumptious. They won’t last long!



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Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Servings 12

Ingredients

For the cheesecake

  • 350 g Full fat cream cheese
  • 65 g Caster sugar
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract

For the brownie batter

  • 3 Eggs
  • 250 g Caster sugar
  • 180 g Butter melted
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp Cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp Red food colouring
  • 120 g Plain flour
  • 20 g Cocoa powder
  • A pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line a 12" x 9" traybake tin

  2. To make the cheesecake filling mix together the full fat cream cheese, caster sugar, egg and vanilla extract with a hand whisk or electric hand whisk until smooth

  3. In a bowl, whisk together the caster sugar and the eggs until frothy

  4. Add the melted butter, vanilla, vinegar and red food colouring, and whisk in

  5. Add the plain flour, salt and cocoa powder and whisk in

  6. Pour the brownie mixture into the traybake tin, then pour the cheesecake mixture on top in blobs

  7. Using a knife, swirl the mixture around a bit, then bake it for 30 minutes

  8. Leave it to cool completely before cutting into squares

  9. Store in the fridge and eat them within 3 days

You can find more of my Brownie recipes by clicking here!

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

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