Red Velvet Cupcakes Recipe

If you follow me on Twitter you will know that I have been tweeting a lot about what I have been baking and also sharing some pictures. In case you haven't guessed already I love baking, it is something that I find really relaxing and I love how you can combine different ingredients and different amounts of ingredients and your end result is so delicous. During the Spring Bank holidays I did a lot of baking: I made a Malteser cake, an old fashioned chocolate cake, butterfly fairy cupcakes and these red velvet cupcakes. My family love everything I bake but they said these were the best cupcakes I had ever made and so I wanted to share the recipe with you so you can wow! your friends and family with these stunningly scrummy cupcakes.

Ingredients For The Cupcakes:

120g unsalted butter (lift out of the fridge a few hours before you bake so it can soften)

300g caster sugar

2 large eggs

20g cocoa powder

40ml red food colouring ( you can add more or less depending on how red you want your cakes!)

1 tsp vanilla essence 

300g plain flour

240ml buttermilk

1tbsp white wine vinegar

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

Ingredients For The Frosting:

100g unsalted butter (lift out of the fridge a few hours before you bake so it can soften)

600g icing sugar

250 full-fat cream (e.g. Philadelphia)

Red glitter or sprinkle (this is optional, you can decorate your cakes how ever you wish)

The Method:

Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 and prepare you muffin tin with 12 muffin/cupcake cases. 

I used an electric free-standing mixer, but you can use an electric whisk and do it by hand as well. Start off by creaming the butter and the sugar together until it is light and fluffy. Break in the eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is full mixed in before you add the next.

Add in the  cocoa powder, vanilla essence and food colouring to the mixture. Mix thoroughly and keep adding red food colouring until you are happy with the colour. 

Sift in the flour and salt in two separate batches, alternating with the butter milk and making sure everything is mixed in before you add the next alternation. ( In simpler terms add 150g and a pinch of salt, then add 120ml butter mild, then add the rest of the 150g  flour and a pinch of salt and finally add the last 120ml of buttermilk). 

Lastly in a separate bowl mix the vinegar and the bicarbonate of soda together by hand. This is so cool becuase it is basically a mini experiment becuase there is a chemical reaction and it starts to fix up. Then add this into the cake batter. 

Spoon the batter into the paper cases, I usually do them so that the cases are two thirds full. I find with this recipe that you can make at least 18-20 decent sized cupcakes. If you only have one muffin tin then I would suggestion you put 12 in the oven and lift them out of the tray 5 minuets after you have lifted them out of the oven. Then run the tin under cold water, wipe it dry and then you can line it with more cases and make some more cupcakes!

Bake the cakes for 18-20 minuets, you can tell they are cooked when the sponge bounces back when you press lightly. Cool the cakes on a wire rack so they cool completely,I leave them to cool for at least 1 hour. 

Using an electric whisk or free-standing mixer beat the butter and icing sugar until there are no large lumps and the mixture has a sandy texture. Add in the cream cheese and mix on a slow speed until everything is incorporated. At the end increase the speed to around medium so it turns soft and fluffy. 

Now onto my favourite part: the decoration! I add about a table spoon on the frosting to the top of the cake and then smooth it down with the back of a palette knife or even just an ordinary knife. I smooth the frosting down in the circular direction of the cake and I keep turning the cake round in left hand while I smooth it down with the knife in my right hand. I hope this makes sense, it was quite hard to explain. 

A cool trick if you don't have any red coloured glitter or sprinkles is to place a cupcake in a food processor and blitz into really fine crumbs. Then sprinkle the red crumbs onto the cakes as decoration. 

If you have a go at making these then tweet me a picture so I can see, my twitter is @missbeccabeauty. These are 'show-stopper' cupcakes and will wow anyone you give these to. I think these are really nice cupcakes for summer as they are so moist and light. 

MissBeccaBeauty xo