BY HITI KHATWANI
My friend is allergic to chocolate but he’s a sucker for sweet treats. Hence, I attempted to make red velvet cupcakes for him and it was extremely successful. I love the concept of red velvet cupcakes since they look so yum and taste wonderful and to top that, having the perfect cream cheese frosting with it just puts it over the top. It’s a delicacy which is irresistible.
Recipe to Red Velvet cupcakes:
DRY INGREDIENTS BOWL:
1+ ½ cup (180g) all-purpose flour/Maida (sifted)
2 tbsp (15g) cocoa powder (sifted)
1tsp of baking soda
1 tsp baking power
WET INGREDIENTS BOWL:
1 cup Castor Sugar
½ cup canola oil
¼ cup yogurt
2tsp lemon juice
2tsp vanilla extract
4-5 tsp red food gel colour
1 cup milk + 1tbsp vinegar (keep it separate for 5-10 minutes before adding to the mixture)
Cream cheese frosting ingredients:
150 gm cream cheese frosting
1 cup whipped cream ( should be very cold)
1 ½ cup castor sugar
Procedure:
• Add 1 cup milk + 1 tbsp vinegar and mix it keep it aside for 5- 10 minutes
• Take a bowl and add your dry ingredients which consists of flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder mixing them with the help of a whisk and sifting them all together.
• Take another bowl and start adding your wet ingredients to it. Add castor sugar to the bowl along with canola oil. We use Canola oil because it is not strong and is devoid of any taste or smell thus not interfering with the taste of the batter and helps in keeping the cake moist.
• Mix both the ingredients well with a whisk. This step is very important because this is where you incorporate a lot of air into your batter thus making it fluffy and light.
• Next add lemon juice and homemade yogurt to the mixture.
• To add colour to our batter , we add the red food gel colour as well as vanilla extract and mix it well.
• To this, add your dry ingredients mixture along with the buttermilk which was kept aside. Don’t add it in its entirety at once. First, add only half of it and mix it well and mix it alternatively with buttermilk.
• NOTE: DO NOT OVERMIX THE INGREDIENTS. MIX IT LIGHTLY WITH YOUR RUBBER SPATULA.
• Pour the batter into the cupcake moulds. Preheat your oven for 10 minutes at 180 degree Celsius and bake it for 30-35 minutes.
• To prepare your frosting, beat your cream cheese with an electric beater in order to make it light and fluffy.
• In another bowl, pour your whipped cream and beat it till you get stiff peaks. This may take a while. Add the light cream cheese mix along with sugar and mix it all with the help of a spatula. Your rich frosting is ready to be topped on the red velvet cupcakes.
Also, try tasting your batter at certain steps to make sure if it’s sweet enough. I always end up using more sugar because it never seems enough ! So add as per your taste. 😊
You can add some crumbs of the cake on top of the frosting on cupcakes. This is a super tasty snack and is loved by all. I hope you enjoy making it. 😊
