Red Velvet Cupcakes...

Ayyy, another post within the month. How lucky are you.

:)

Anyway.

I wanted to share with you these awesome cupcakes. I mad them once before as a layer cake, but it didn't work quite as well as cupcakes because they were so rich. However, these amazing cupcakes are actually quite simple to make, have a really fine texture and are absolutely stunning. They really are very cool, especially on your first bite when you're not expecting the colour. If nothing else, the colour will score you points every time.

When I was making them, I didn't realise at first, but the patty cases (which are silicone ones by the way; they're really helpful) are exactly the same colour as the cupcakes themselves. I thought that was cool. 

Anyway, enough with the talking/typing, I'm in a bit of a hurry so I think that I will just give you the recipe now. Good luck!!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

60g of unsalted butter

2/3 cup of caster sugar

1 large egg, beaten

1 heaped tbs of cocoa powder, sifted

20 ml (4 tsp) of red food colouring (liquid, not a paste or powder)

1 tsp of vanilla extract

120 ml of buttermilk

1 heaped cup of flour (approx. 150g)

1/2 tsp of bicarb soda (also known as baking soda. It is NOT known as baking powder...that is a different thing entirely)

1 1/2 tsp of white vinegar

150g of icing sugar

25g butter, softened

60g of cream cheese (it is suggested to use light cream cheese...full cream cheese makes it very rich. Although, I prefer it to be rich, anyway)

1. Line a 12-hole cupcake tin with cupcake papers. Preheat the oven to 170C. 
2. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl, and beat with electric mixers until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat really really well. 
3. Place the cocoa powder, food colouring and vanilla in a small bowl, and mix until it's a dark red/crimson paste. Add to the butter/sugar/egg mixture, and beat until it is all mixed through. You will probably have to scrape down the edges of the bowl at least once, otherwise you will get globs of colour that will randomly mix in later.
4. Slowly fold in (with a spatula/wooden spoon) half of the buttermilk, then half of the flour, then the other half of the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour. You need to make sure that you don't overmix the mixture (that's why it's best to use a spoon instead of the beaters). Overmixing will make the cupcakes really tough--I've learned from experience :| Oh, and NOTE: it will separate really badly around this point, but don't worry, by the time you are finished it will un-separate :)
5. Once that's mixed in, add the bicarb and vinegar, mix until combined.
6. Put heaped tbs of the mixture into the cupcake cases, until no more than 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean (actually, I once read a recipe like this, for chocolate cupcakes, and it told me to cook it until the tops were just browned. Seriously? Chocolate muffins? Brown on top? Anyway). 
7. To make the icing, beat the butter and sugar until it has a crumbly sort of texture, then add the cream cheese in blobs, beating after each addition. If the icing seems really thick in the middle, don't worry. It will get thinner with more cream cheese added.
8. Beat on high until it becomes light and fluffy (between 3-5 minutes). 

TA DA! All done! Decorate the cupcakes with as little or as much icing as you like; I personally love cream cheese icing (unhealthy as it is), so I put heaps on. Enjoy!

(oh, and by the way, while I'm writing this I'm listening to Fall Out Boy. They're really good. You should look them up :P )