Red Velvet Cupcakes.

My aim was to try and make something that could go in a magazine for Valentine's Day as magazine work about 4 months in advance I needed to get them done quickly. I have a habit of making things harder than I need, so my plan was to make red velvet cupcakes (which I'd never made before) in a heart shape with covered with a red sugarpaste heart sprayed with red lustre spray.
I did a trial run trying to work out what was the best way to shape the foil case into a heart; I tried shaping them in my hand, shaping them round a cutter and using foil in the muffin tin to keep its shape while cooking. The cupcakes did turn out in a heart shape however they looked really messy. And the foil cases and using bicarbonate of soda and vinegar in the recipes made the cupcakes erupt, so it was back to the drawing board.
My next plan was red velvet cupcakes in paper cases and without the vinegar and less bicarbonate of soda, with a swirl of cream cheese icing (which is actually really nice!) about half a centimeter in from the edge. After trying this, they turned out really well and tasted delicious. If you're looking for a valentines idea or just want to give red velvet cupcakes a go try the recipe below.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

140g plain flour
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
120ml buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
60g unsalted butter
170g caster sugar
2 large eggs (at room temperature)
pinch of salt

For the icing:

110g unsalted butter
110g cream cheese (I used full fat Philadelphia)
450g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, and fill your muffin tins with about 12 cupcakes cases. And mix the flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the buttermilk, vanilla and red food colouring together until fully blended.

Step 2:
Cream the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer, then add the eggs until fully mixed. Then alternately add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture until all mixtures are well mixed together.

Step 3:
Then fill the paper cases evenly with the batter and bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, to check they're done pierce with a kebab skewer and it should come out clean. Then leave to cool completely.

Step 4:
For the icing, mix the butter and cream cheese together, then slowly pour in the icing sugar and vanilla until completely blended. Then spoon into an piping bag with a Wilton 2110 nozzle and top the cupcake with a swirl. Then decorate as you wish, I used red edible glitter and a heart sprinkle.

Here is the photo of the ones I made.