Valentine's Day: Red Velvet Cupcakes
I once read in a magazine a great quote by Emma Stone about Hollywood's obsession on being thin and all and she gave them what seems to me the best response:
You're only human.
You live once and life is wonderful.
So eat the damn red velvet cupcake.
Let's ignore the fact that Emma Stone is missing from the movie theater screens for way too long now and that my obsession with her has now sneaked its way into my blog, and just stick to the essence of that quote. I think it sums up my relationship with these red devils perfectly. They truly are the thing to eat at every occasion because red velvets are loud and expressive, passion-filled pastries. Birthdays, weddings or just lazy sunday afternoons - red velvets are my favorite cupcakes. And if I think of a certain holiday that is coming up this week I can only think of the color red - and thus of red velvet cupcakes. Obviously the most important thing about this cake is getting the color right. Many recommend a red food coloring paste but I am a believer in coloring powder. It will last forever and you'll only need to use a pinch of it for 12 cupcakes. My mother once ordered many different coloring powders from a website called pati-versand.de and the results we got with their quality products were just ravishing. The amount of red color powder for below recipe is about 1/2 teaspoon. Find your preferred coloring and stick to it like glue - it made my life so much easier. The recipe is from Hummingbird bakery's book. You can purchase it on Amazon in English or German (and I'm sure other languages, too). I tried many recipes from the book already (orange cake, poppy-seed cake, carrot cake, banana bread) but still have a long list to work through - peanut butter whoopies, zucchini-walnut cakes and halloween themed cupcakes are just a few of the things to come. But let's go back to the classics and have a look at the best red velvet cake recipe I stumbled upon.ingredients
makes 18-24 cupcakes
dough
120g unsalted butter, at room temperature
270g sugar
1 "Vanillenzucker" (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
2 eggs
20g cacao
1 tsp food coloring powder in red
300g all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
240ml buttermilk (or milk with 1 tbsp vinegar)
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp baking soda (or 1/2 package of baking powder instead of baking soda and vinegar)
frosting
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
600g powdered sugar
250g cream cheese ("Doppelrahmstufe")
instructions
- First set your oven on 190 degree Celsius (Umluft 170) and line standard baking muffin tins with paper liners.
- For the dough mix butter, sugar, vanilla sugar in a mixing bowl at medium to high speed (until fluffy), add the eggs one at a time and mix on high speed.
- Prepare coloring: mix cacao with food color. Add to dough until well combined. The dough will be dark colored with a red shimmer. Don't worry about it - it will change to a strong red color once buttermilk and flour is added.
- Sift flour with salt and add to mixture with two additions, variate with buttermilk. At last mix vinegar with natron in a small bowl and add to dough.
- Now get ready to fill the tins! Use an ice cream scoop to divide batter evenly. Fill each two-third full and bake for 17-20 minutes. Use a wooden stick to check if the cupcakes are ready.
- While the cupcakes cool off continue with the preparation of the frosting. In a bowl with a paddle attachment mix butter and powdered sugar. To the powdered mix add cream cheese and mix on high speed until a fluffy frosting is created.
- Are the cupcakes cooled down and ready? Using a spatula spread frosting on cupcakes and get creative with the look! I like to shred one cupcake to decorate them - I've seen the people at Hummingbird Bakery do it. It looks lovely and is a nice variation to sprinkles.
On this note I leave you with my best wishes for the greatest invention of all times, St. Valentine's Day.
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