Red Velvet Cupcakes
First thing’s first, red velvet is NOT CHERRIES.
What is red velvet? What exactly is a red velvet cupcake and how do we explain its taste? Chocolatey? Vanilla? IMO red velvet is the umami of cupcakes – a taste which is rich, familiar yet unexplainable – to put it simply.
There may be a lot of debates out there, but the conclusion is: red velvet recipes are essentially just originations from red coloured cakes. During World War II, Red coloured cake recipes were introduced by using beetroot juices. The enhanced colour not only served the purpose of making cakes more appealing, beets were also used as a filler and to retain moisture. As time passed, beets were replaced by the creation of food colouring and flavour extracts. Velvet, on the other hand, just signifies the soft texture of the cake.
In modern times, accurate red velvet recipes should have the following wonderful taste in every bite:
- Mild chocolate flavour
- Warm buttery taste
- Light vanilla sweetness
- Slight tanginess
The reason why we do not register it as chocolate in our brains is due to its bright red colour, making it taste like something different. Besides that, the cocoa to flour ratio in red velvet recipes are much lower than normal chocolate cakes, resulting in the milder chocolate taste. This is a distinctive characteristic for red velvet recipes as it is difficult, if not impossible, to dye chocolate. Therefore, too much food colouring (liquid/gel) will then be required and this may leave a bitter aftertaste. I myself have made this mistake, in the past, adding too much cocoa powder as a result of following a bad recipe (please don’t follow).
Speaking of food colouring, don’t waste your time and money on cheap supermarket ones. Most of them will end up disappointing you. I tried a red (liquid) colouring from XX Supermarket – with 20 drops, it turned out to be more PINK than anything! Whereas the Wilton gel paste colouring required 2 drops to give a beautiful red hue. I am currently using these myself and I find that they are good value for money: accurate colour and does not leave any distinct aftertaste.
My final verdict: treat baking ingredients as investments. The quality of your cake eventually depends on the quality of ingredients used. Invest a little more to avoid any further disappointments as they are not worth the money, time and tears.
I really like red velvet recipes as they are very delicious and beautiful. The only slightly off-putting fact is that these recipes will inevitably contain quite a lot of food colouring. That aside, red velvet cakes and cupcakes go best with cream cheese frosting – they are the absolute perfect duo! Like Jack and Jill, Batman and Robin, Spongebob and Patrick.
I used a slightly runnier than usual cream cheese frosting recipe as, somehow, I like the look of it more. 🙂 it’s very easy to tweak the texture of the frosting by adding extra icing sugar (firmer) or milk (runnier).
As always, I wish you all HAPPY BAKING! 😛
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Ingredients
Red Velvet Cupcakes
- 160 ml Milk *
- 1 tbsp White vinegar / lemon juice *
- 120 g Unsalted butter , room temperature
- 160 g Caster sugar
- 30 g Vegetable oil
- 2 Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- Red food colouring **
- 200 g Cake flour
- 2 tbsp Cocoa powder
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 3/4 tsp Salt
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 120 g Cream cheese , cold
- 220 g Icing sugar , sifted
- 60 g Unsalted butter , soft to touch
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1-2 tbsp Milk
Instructions
Red Velvet Cupcakes
- (Buttermilk replacement) Add white vinegar / lemon juice into the milk. Stir the mixture and let sit for five minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- Add the vanilla extract and the red food colouring into the milk, stir until the red colouring is well combined. On the other hand, sift all the remaining dry ingredients together into a bowl.
- Cream the softened butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl with a mixer until smooth. Add the vegetable oil in and continue creaming for 2 minutes.
- Add the eggs in one at a time, as you mix to incorporate before adding the next.
- Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients and 1/2 of the red milk mixture into the batter, fold until well combined. Repeat the process with the rest of the dry ingredients and red milk mixture. DO NOT overwork the batter, fold until just-incorporated.
- Using an ice cream scoop or 2 spoons, scoop the batter evenly in your prepared pan – filling 2/3 of the cupcake liner. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a clean toothpick comes out when you insert into the centre of the cupcake. Let the cupcakes cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- As you allow the cupcakes to cool slightly, prepare the cream cheese frosting. Beat the butter and vanilla until pale and fluffy, around 3-4 minutes. Add the cream cheese and continue beating until well incorporated. Add the icing sugar by 3 portions and continue mixing. Finally, mix in the milk. I like my cream cheese frosting on this particular cupcake to be slightly runnier than usual, hence I've added 1-2 tbsp extra milk to the mixture. *** Keep the frosting in a piping bag in the fridge until ready to be used.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Serve after the frosting is set – >30 minutes resting time or 15 minutes in the fridge. Or if you can’t wait, just dig in! 😀
Notes
