Valentine's Day Special : Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Red Velvet is just the perfect cupcake for Valentine's Day. It's not to chocolatey and over powering, light enough for you to indulge yet sinful enough to make it a decadent V-day treat. Since V-day is this weekend, i thought i'd share my go to recipe here. This recipe is an adaptation from Georgetown cupcakes' Cupcake Diaries. As usual i've edited the recipe to suit me; no food coloring and lesser sugar. Have a go at it this weekend. It just might be the best V-day gift you've ever given.

Ingredients

(The recipe says it makes about 24. But if you are using a ice cream scoop as a measure for dividing the batter you will be getting about 30 pieces)

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour ( not self raising)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 170g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups castor sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons natural cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

For the cupcakes:1. Preheat oven to 180C and line muffins tins with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, whisk flour and salt together. Set aside.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and the sugar together and cream on medium speed until it is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. In a small bowl, whisk cocoa powder, and vanilla together until throughly combined and no lumps remain. Very slowly add to the mixer, and mix at low speed until well combined.
6. Add in one third of the flour mixture, mix until combined, then add in one third of the milk. Mix until combined and repeat adding in the flour then milk, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
7. In a small bowl, add the baking soda to the vinegar. Mix well and add to the batter. Mix until just incorporated, about 10 seconds.
8. Scoop batter  using an ice cream scoop into the muffin tin, filling them two-thirds full. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 2 hours.

For the frosting

• 225g unsalted butter, room temperature ( not too runny)
• 4 cups confectioners sugar
• 500 grams cream cheese (2 Philly bars),  cut into 8 pieces and chilled
• pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract ( Madagascar is the best.)

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream butter and confectioners sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
2. Add in the cream cheese, 1 piece at a time, until well blended, about 30 seconds. You may need to scrape the bowl after every other addition. Add in the salt and vanilla extract. Whip the icing on high speed for about 1 minutes to make it light and fluffy.
3. Use immediately, or refrigerate until ready to use.

Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This Cream Cheese Pound Cake is a definite winner and will be a recipe I will be keeping and using for a long long time. The cake has a wonderfully rich buttery cheese flavor and is soft and delectable. Needless to say this was a hit amongst my office mates.

The original recipe required a bunt pan, I didn’t have one so I used a cake tin. To ensure this cake turns out perfect, do make sure that the eggs, butter and cheese are at room temperature, which basically means let it sit out for about 15mins.

What you need:

3 cups (390 grams) all purpose flour ( I used self raising)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups (340 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1-8 ounce (226 grams) package cream cheese, room temperature

3 cups (600 grams castor sugar

6 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Zest of a lemon or orange

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Putting it together

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter and flour a 10 inch (25 cm) bundt pan.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, in three additions, beating well after each addition. Continue beating on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (about 3 - 5 minutes).

4.  Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla and lemon zest and beat until incorporated.

5. Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

6. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 20 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely. (The cake is cooled in the pan first for about 20 minutes so the cake has time to set. The cake may collapse if you try to remove it from the pan too soon.)

Chocolate Cheese Muffin

You must know by now that i love chocolate. Almost all the things i have made has chocolate in one form or another. I sincerely believe chocolate is the one great food which cures just about all ailments from stress, loneliness, boredom, PMS, sadness..you name it there is nothing a warm chocolate drink or a decadent slice would not sooth :)

For the life of me i could not find the recipe for these muffins which is why i took so long to post them up. I used the recipe i found on Joy of Baking's site.

What you need:

• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups (230 grams) all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup (60 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups (265 grams) light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Putting it together:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Position rack in center of oven. Butter, or line with paper liners, 12 - 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch muffin cups.
2. In a large measuring cup or bowl whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. 
3. In another large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips. With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients, along with the melted butter, into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result. 
4. Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter (the muffin cups will be full), using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan.
   

I decided not to ditch the chocolate frosting for leftover cream cheese i had in the freezer. I followed the recipe to the T (for once!) and at the end, as i scooped the batter into the muffin trays i added a teaspoon full of cheese.

You should really give this a try. Its absolutely yummy..

Happy baking

xoxo