Red Velvet Cupcake

By Lu

Red Velvet Cupcake, cut in halves

If you are one of our regular readers, you may notice that I have been doing all the writing lately. I am sure some of you miss Ri and are wondering where the hell is she. Well, she's been taking time off to do some traveling with her husband. She's doing something fun and I have no doubt when she comes back, she will have tons to write about. So, bear with me! I hope I don't bore you too much!

Talking about Ri, she bought me a Red Velvet Cake for my birthday. The cake was so yummy that for awhile I was craving it every day. It was hard to find a bakery nearby to where I live that sells the cake. Turned out, Labriola Bakery by me in Lombard does sell the cake and cupcake. I bought the cupcake several days in a row. I could have bought three or four all at once to eat; but, I didn't think I would want it again the next day! But, I did!

I also have been watching "Cupcake Wars" on the Food Network and I have to admit I am a little fascinated with cupcakes lately. I am usually not a cupcake fan. I didn't get why now it is so popular. But watching the show, I got fascinated on how these competitors came up with various different flavor profiles and how creative they are in creating a winning cupcake. One cupcake maker did a tuna and wasabi cup cake. That is just nuts. Not only they have to worry about the taste, but they also have to think of decorations and the display. Also, one of the carpenters on the show (they're brothers by the way - they build the displays for the competitors) is totally cute. I think his name is Justin. He's really easy on the eyes and his displays always win. I want to be on team Justin!

On the "Cupcake Wars" episodes I watched, almost every one did a rendition of Red Velvet Cupcake - thus, my further fascination with it. So I had to try and make it home myself.  Because of "Cupcake Wars" also I chose to make the cupcake version instead of the layered cake version. My first try wasn't bad, but not as good as I wanted it to be. I followed a recipe online but the bake time was too much as my cake was totally dry. However, my second try was quite good and tasted like store bought!

I ended up combining the recipes I found online - between Paula Deen's recipe and The Joy of Baking's recipe. I compared the two and I made my cake how I usually bake a cake and it turned out pretty darn good. Most of the recipes I found online are pretty comparable; so, there isn't big changes here. A couple points to mention: I prefer to bake cake with oil rather than butter. I found oil makes the cake much moister than butter. Next, we always have to use food coloring to get the red color for Red Velvet. Some people said the red coloring comes from a chemical reaction of vinegar and buttermilk. It has some truth that the reaction brought out the red in the cocoa powder. However, it only works with unprocessed cocoa, and it won't get as red as the Red Velvet we know nowadays. So, yes - red food coloring is needed. Lastly, I found out that real Red Velvet must have pecans. So, instead of decorating it with the cake crumbs, I decorate mine with chopped pecans. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

2.5 cup sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoon red food coloring
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Heat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit/ 175 degree Celcius. Prepare one or two muffin tins. This recipe yields between 18 to 20 cupcakes. Line each muffin hole with paper cups. Start measuring your ingredients. Put dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl).

Next, measure the buttermilk, pour it into a bowl and mix it with the red food coloring. Mix it well. In another bowl, mix baking soda and vinegar and let it fizzed (wait to mix it until it is about time to add it to the batter).

In the mixer bowl, add sugar and oil. Mix well using medium speed electric mixer until it turned light and fluffy. Add egg one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then, add flour mixture and alternating it with the buttermilk and coloring mixture. Add it in three parts, starting and ending with the flour. Mix the baking soda and vinegar. Let it fizzed and add to the batter. Once it is mixed well, stop the mixer.

Spoon the batter into the the muffin cup. I found ice cream scooper works the best and the least messy. You can also try using pastry bag. However, just spooning it with regular spoon is guaranteed messy. I wouldn't recommend it. Fill it about 3/4 full.

Bake the cup cakes about 15 to 25 minutes. Yes, there's a big gap here. It is really depending on how your oven is calibrated. I would totally watch the cake especially for the first time. The recipe I saw told me to bake it between 25 to 30 minutes. My cup cakes were dry and too brown in the bottom. The next time, I only baked it between 12 to 15 minutes. I tested using a tooth pick. If the tooth pick comes out clean, not wet with batter, I'd say yank it! So, watch it and test it for the first batch.

Let it cool. Then decorate with cream cheese frosting, and sprinkle chopped pecans for decoration.

I saw some very elaborate cream cheese frosting recipes as well. However, I stuck with my super simple yet proven tasty cream cheese frosting:

2 packages of 8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar (adjust to taste if you would like it sweeter - add a little more)
2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract.

Whipped them good until creamy. Taste it for sweetness and then it is ready to use. Put frosting in a piping bag and and then pipe the the frosting on top of cooled cup cakes. No piping bag? No worries, just slather it! It is still guaranteed good.

Some people at work thought these cupcakes were store bought. I still haven't made it enough time to want to brag about it. Some said my cake wasn't sweet enough. However, with the frosting being sweet, I thought the cake was perfect in sweetness. You'll be the judge! Go ahead and try it! It is definitely cheaper than shelling out $5 a pop for a bakery cup cake.

When I brought these cupcakes to work, two of my co-workers made a diet resolution and would have started that day on that fine Monday morning. When they saw the cupcakes, they changed their mind! Whoops! However, they told me it was worth the calories! Whew - I didn't feel so bad then.

Hope you will try it too and make sure you set your diet resolution the next Monday, mkay?!