Recipe – Super Moist Red Velvet Cupcakes

It was Missuschewy‘s birthday and just like last year, I decided to bake something for her. I have always been intrigued by red velvet cupcakes and more recently so when I have tasted a few red velvet cupcakes from different bakery. It is soooo classic and every other bakery has that. But I really want a good red velvet cupcake recipe and I guess I have finally found it.

You see, the boyfriend is pretty stingy when it comes to compliments. He has never given me any praises at all since I started baking. Good and bad lah. Good is because I always try to make my cakes better hoping that he will be impressed one day. Bad is I always felt demoralized and don’t feel like giving him a piece of my cake. LOL!

But but but, I really take his comments seriously when he eats my cake. During one of my previous bakes, he told me he love soft soft and not-so-buttery cakes. And I was thinking hard what to bake for missuschewy, because misterchewy is quite picky so I don’t want to be too adventurous. So here I have it – super moist, melt-in-your mouth and soft red velvet cupcake.

This red velvet cake recipe from Divas Can Cook is pretty superb. Because it is so soft and moist. I went NTUC to buy Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa, then went Coffee Bean to get a cup of Americano to add it into the batter. No it doesn’t have any coffee smell lah, don’t worry. This batter is more watery than other cupcake recipe. I freaked out initially but heng ah, it turned out well.

And the cream cheese frosting from Martha Stewart is simply great! I cut down on vanilla essence because too much of these artificial flavours will make me nauseous. The same goes for fish sauce (no I don’t add them into my cake, I mean I don’t really like fish sauce in my food). If you want your cake to be super red, please go ahead and add more colouring. I am happy with just a few drops. Actually, I prefer to go without the colouring.

RED VELVET CUPCAKE RECIPE
(Adapted from Divas Can Cook)

Ingredients: (makes 24)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
11/2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon red food color
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoons apple cidar vinegar
1/2 cup of plain hot coffee

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170 degree celsius.
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Combine the sugar and vegetable oil.
4. Mix in the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and red food coloring until combined.
5. Stir in the coffee and white vinegar.
6. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients a little at time, mixing after each addition, just until combined.
7. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
8. To finish, frost the cupcake with cream cheese frosting when the cakes have cooled completely.

*If you are baking a cake, bake for about 30 minutes.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
(adapted from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients:
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound (4 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method:
Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla; mix until smooth.

One advice is to please let your cupcake cool COMPLETELY before frosting it. Cannot be gan chiong please. I made another batch and my Grandpa was overly ganchiong and made me frost the cake when it was still abit warm. In the end the poor frosting just melted and it was a messy sight.

As I made 24 cupcakes, I packed 6 for Missuschewy, 6 for my facial aunty because she invited me for her BBQ on the same day and the rest is for the family. Auntie love it and she asked me to bake one more batch for her to share with her friends next week. -_-

See, all my friends are the best ambassadors! LOL!!! Ok lah, I forced them to pose this before they ate the cupcake. But misterchewy and missuschewy all said it is very nice okay! And this is the first time the boyfriend said to me:”蛋糕很好吃！” YAY! 🙂

Maybe it’s time to open a cupcake shop liao! :p