When I'm at uni I don't get chance to bake, and so whilst I was home this weekend I decided that I needed to get in the kitchen and cook/bake some good food. After scanning our recipe books for far longer than I needed (the usual life of the indecisive), I thought that I would have a go at these Red Velvet cupcakes from The Hummingbird Bakery's cook book.
Even though it took a while, it was definitely worth it and I would highly recommend it. So here's the recipe (with a few little extra hints that I found out the hard way):
ingredients :
(cake)
120g unsalted butter
300g caster sugar
2 large eggs
20g cocoa powder
40ml red food colouring (I would highly recommend using more than this as mine definitely don't have the distinctive red colour)
1tsp vanilla essence
300g plain flour
1tsp salt
240ml buttermilk
1tbsp white wine vinegar
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
(frosting)
100g unsalted butter
600g icing sugar
250g full fat cream cheese
things to decorate (I used pink edible glitter)
method :
(cake)
1. pre-heat oven to 190°C and line muffin tin with cases (it says it'll make 12-14 but somehow I managed to get 23, so I'd just play it by ear)
2. beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
3. add eggs one at a time, mixing between each one.
4. in separate bowl mix together cocoa powder, food colouring and vanilla essence, once combined add this to the mixture and mix.
5. sift flour and salt in to separate bowl and add half to mixture, mix.
6. add half of the buttermilk to mixture and stir in.
7. add remainder of flour and mix, then add remaining buttermilk, ensuring mixture is well combined.
8. in another bowl add the white wine vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, once combined add to mixture and stir.
9. spoon batter in to cases (about 2/3's full) and pop in the oven for about 20mins - keep checking on it though as mine took closer to 30mins. You know they're cooked when they're springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean.
10. leave to cool in tins for about 10mins and then move to wire rack to cool completely.
(frosting)
1. beat butter and icing sugar together in a bowl - I would recommend adding the icing sugar bit by bit as it is pretty messy. I added water to help combine mine together but honestly I would resist from doing this or if you do then use the smallest amount ever as I had a nightmare trying to get it thick enough after adding too much water.
2. once all combined add the cream cheese and mix until all combined and evenly distributed.
3. once cupcakes are totally cooled, cover them using the bluntest knife you can find and then add whatever decorations you want to. I had lots of cream cheese icing left over (due to the water 'incident') and so I put it in to a small container and put it in the freezer to defrost so that I can use it another time.
4. (optional) after icing them I put my cakes in the fridge for a little while just to stop the frosting from running anywhere - you don't have to do this obviously, but I just think it's a great idea if the buttercream looks a little untrustworthy.
I could not recommend this recipe enough - the cakes are so light and springy, they're delicious. They're obviously not something to have everyday, but every other day should be okay, right? Let me know if you've tried this recipe, or if you have any others you think I'd enjoy.
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