Red Velvet Cupcakes

Have not been baking any cakes / cupcakes or muffins lately.  I have come to accept that I am just not good in baking them.  They turned out either cracked, or hard or .. well... not that nice.  My sis has been giving me recipe after recipe of cakes which I just didn't have the interest to look at.  That is, till someone was talking about low sugar Red Velvet cupcakes.

I had my first Red Velvet cupcakes sometime ago and although it was good, I am not in any way hooked.   It looks nice though.  Since my sis has given me a low fat red velvet cupcake recipe, I thought that I might as well give it a try.

The recipe is courtesy of Baking Cow :

Low Fat Red Velvet Cupcake


 Make : 10 – 11pcs cupcakes


125g plain flour
1/2tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1tbsp cocoa powder
1tsp red coloring
58g butter
90g sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
120g low fat milk + ½ tsp vinegar (or 120g buttermilk)
1/2tsp baking soda
1/2tsp vinegar

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C
2. Measure milk and mix vinegar into a bowl. Let stand for 5 – 10 mins.
3. Sift flour, cocoa powder , baking powder, salt together in another bowl.
4. Beat butter and sugar together till light and fluffy.
5. On low speed, add in egg and vanilla essence and mix till well combined and buttery.
6. Add in red coloring. Mix well.
7. Add sifted flour slowly at low speed, alternating with milk mixture.
8. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. This will make a fizzy sound mixture. Quickly add this into batter
9. Fill each cup to 2/3 full.
10. Bake at 170 deg C for 15 – 20 mins until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes clean.
11. Cool well before frosting.


Frosting

140g whipping cream

Method :
Whisk the whipping cream over ice bath till stiff peaks formed.


The batter was deep red in color, which I think is a bit gruesome.  I specially like the part where the mixture of vinegar and baking soda fizzles.  The recipe said to add in this to the mixture quickly.  It stressed me a little to have to move this fast.  I do not know what is the purpose of the vinegar and baking soda, but just follow what the recipe says.

The cupcakes turned out nice.   The frosting needs lots of improvement though.  This is my first attempt in frosting.  The cupcakes are really soft and moist.  Tasted sweet when I first had it.  Too sweet to my liking even.  However, after chilling them for 2 hours, the cupcakes tasted even better and the sweetness is gone.  Well, not gone.  Just that sweet cakes goes well with chilling. 



 

It surprised me that Red Velvet is actually chocolate cupcakes with the hint of red color.  Without the coloring, it is just plain chocolate cake.  Once we added in coloring, it transforms into something else which is so unique.  Just that 1 tsp of coloring makes a lot of difference.  This goes on to prove that doing just a little extra will bring us miles further from where we are.