VEGETARIAN RED HOT VELVET CUPCAKES

We just celebrated my sons birthday with family members last week. He wanted to have a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. So I googled up Ina Garten's carrot cake recipe, made a few tweaks as usual, and the cake turned out really moist and delicious. I will have to post that recipe as well. Now he wants to celebrate his birthday with his tuition mates and tuition teachers. Since his tuition teachers are vegetarians and since my son is an ardernt Arsenal fan like his dad, I decided to bake a vegetarian red velvet cake to compliment the Arsenal logo cup cake edible image that I bought. I took the red velvet cake recipe from "Baked" and simply replaced the eggs with sour cream. My son tried out one of the cupcakes and said it was delicious, just like the red velvet cake that I had made sometime back using the original recipe from 'Baked' with eggs. One of my small triumphs. I can give a pat on my back, I guess.

Yields 24 cup cakes

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp cochineal red food coloring (see note below)
1/4 cup boiling water
1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 tbsp vinegar + 1 cup evaporated milk)

125g butter, unsalted butter, softened
1 2/3 cups sugar
½ cup sour cream (I used Pauls Sour  Light Cream)
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1 tsp rose essence
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour or cake flour
½ tsp fine salt
1 tsp baking soda

Frosting:
250g cream cheese at room temperature

125g butter, salted at room temperature

125g -200g icing sugar, sifted (depends on the consistency that you want, more icing sugar gives a stiffer frosting)

1 tsp vanilla essence

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, food coloring, and boiling water. Set aside to cool.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth.
4. Scrape down the bowl and add the sugar. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
5. Add in the sour cream and beat for 2-3 minutes.
6. Stir the buttermilk, rose and vanilla essences into the cooled cocoa mixture.
7. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together into another medium bowl.
8. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture, alternating with the cocoa mixture, to the butter and sour cream mixture in three separate additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
9. Stir the mixture well with a spatula to ensure, everything is well mixed.
10. Pour batter into cupcakes until half full only.
11. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
12. Cool before frosting cupcakes.

FROSTING

1. Beat the cream cheese until it is well mixed and there are no lumps.
2. Add in the butter and beat for about 2-3 minutes.
3. Turn the mixture to low and add in the icing sugar a little at a time.
4. Add in vanilla essence and beat until frosting is light and creamy.

Red Hot Velvet Cake with Cinnamon Buttercream

This red velvet cake is from the authors of the "Baked" cookbook,  Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. They are also co-owners of the famed " Baked" cake shop in NYC. 

I tried out this recipe once with the cinnamon frosting. While the cake turned out great (really moist and delicious) and the cinnamon frosting did give a twist to this red velvet cake, I still like the classic cream cheese frosting to a accompany the red velvet cake. I need to replace this picture with my own soon. My daughter's 16th birthday is coming up soon, I think I will make this cake again however make some tweaks to the cinnamon frosting. Will have to see how that tiurns out. 

Photo Credit Tina Rupp

Recipe courtesy of Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.

YIELDS
One 8-inch cake

INGREDIENTS
Red Hot Velvet Cake Layers:
1/4 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons red gel food coloring (see note below)
1/4 cup boiling water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, at room temperature
1 2/3 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda
Cinnamon Frosting:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Decoration:
Red Hots (cinnamon imperials) candies

PREPARATIONRed Hot Velvet Cake Layers:1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper, and butter the parchment. Dust with flour, and knock out the excess flour.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, food coloring, and boiling water. Set aside to cool. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and shortening until smooth. Scrape down the bowl and add the sugar. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Stir the buttermilk and vanilla into the cooled cocoa mixture. Sift the flour and salt together into another medium bowl. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture, alternating with the cocoa mixture, to the egg mixture in three separate additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until incorporated. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar and baking soda and stir until the baking soda dissolves; the mixture will fizz. Add to the batter and stir until just combined.
4. Divide the batter among the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the rack, remove the pans, and let cool completely. Remove the parchment.
Cinnamon Frosting:1. In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the sugar and flour together. Add the milk and cream and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture comes to a boil and has thickened, about 20 minutes.
2. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until cool. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter; beat until thoroughly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and cinnamon and continue mixing until combined. If the frosting is too soft, transfer the bowl to the refrigerator to chill slightly, then beat again until it is the proper consistency. If the frosting is too firm, place the bowl over a pot of simmering water and beat with a wooden spoon until it is the proper consistency.
Assemble the cake: Place one cooled cake layer on a serving platter. Trim the top to create a flat surface and evenly spread about 1 1/4 cups of the frosting on top. Top with the next layer, trim and frost the top, then add the third layer. Put the cake in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up the frosting. Frost the sides and top with the remaining frosting. Garnish the cake with the Red Hots and refrigerate again for 15 minutes.

Note: Resist the urge to add extra food coloring to this recipe to achieve a redder cake. Subtlety is a virtue here. The purpose is not to turn the cake or the tongues of the cake eaters a radioactive color. The red in this recipe should be sly, smoky, bricklike, and restrained.

Rich Moist Durian Butter Cake

Ingredients

250g butter
200g castor sugar
6 eggs
100ml condensed milk
3 tsps vanilla essence

Sift together:
250g all purpose flour
2 tbsps custard powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Blend/Mash together:
250g durian flesh
4 tbsps milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Cream butter and sugar and light and fluffy.
3. Add in eggs, one at a time. Make sure you beat well after each addition.
4. Beat in vanilla essence and condensed milk.
5. Fold in flour, alternating with the the blended/mashed durian flesh.
6. Pour cake batter into a greased 8" x 8" cake pan.
7. Bake at 180C for the first 20 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 160C and bake for
    another 40 minutes or until the cake is cooked through.
8. Remove cake from pan and leave it to cool.

Magnolia Bakery's Red Velvet Cake

Recipe courtesy of Magnolia Bakery

I have tried out several recipes for Red Velvet Cake and this is my favorite. Cake is really delicious and moist.

Ingredients

3 ½ cups cake flour (not self-rising)		1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened		1 ½ tsp salt
2 ½ cups sugar		1 ½ cups buttermilk
3 large eggs, at room temperature		1 ½ tsp cider vinegar
6 tbsp red food coloring		1 ½ tsp baking soda
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa		1 batch Creamy Vanilla Frosting (see link below)

Directions

Prep: 20 min Total:

1.       Preheat oven to 350°F(180C). Grease and lightly flour a cake pan .

2.       To make the batter: In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 mins. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.

3.       In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

4.      Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Arrange the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and bake the cupcakes, switching positions of the pans halfway through baking, until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan 10 mins, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a rack before icing. To ice, mound about 1/4 cup of frosting on top of each cupcake and use an icing spatula to make a swirl on top. Decorate with red sanding sugar.

Creamy Vanilla Frosting

Read More http://www.ivillage.com/creamy-vanilla-frosting/3-r-65579#ixzz1yt78A4Fa

Ingredients

6 tbsp all-purpose flour		2 cups sugar
2 cups milk		2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups unsalted butter, softened

Yield: 24 Servings

Directions

Prep: 5 min Total:

1.       In a medium-size saucepan, whisk the flour into the milk until smooth. Place over medium heat and, stirring constantly, cook until the mixture becomes very thick and begins to bubble, 10-15 mins. Cover with waxed paper placed directly on the surface and cool to room temperature, about 30 mins.

2.       In a large bowl, on the medium high speed of an electric mixer, beat the butter for 3 mins, until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating continuously for 3 mins until fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat well.

3.       Add the cooled milk mixture, and continue to beat on the medium high speed for 5 minutes, until very smooth and noticeably whiter in color. Cover and refrigerate for 15 mins (no less and no longer—set a timer!). Use immediately.

Moist Butter Cake

This is one of the moist butter cake recipes that I love. Cake turns out super moist and delicious. Goes well with buttercream icing.

Ingredients

• 1 cup / 225gm butter
• 1/2 cup / 100gm castor sugar (I only used about 50gms only)
• 5 large eggs
• 1 cup / 250ml condensed milk
• 1/2 cup / 125ml fresh milk
• 2 cups / 200gm Self Raising Flour
• 1 tsp baking powder (omit if using SRF, include if using plain flour)
• 3 ½ tsps vanilla essence, 1 ½ tsps rose essence

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy (almost white )
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Mix vanilla & rose essence with milk.
5. Add in condensed milk and fresh milk to the butter mixture and lastly fold in flour
6. Pour into an 8” or 10” cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180oC for about 45- 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
7. Turn out on a cake rack and cool before frosting the cake

Moist Blackcurrant Butter Cake

Ingredients

250g Butter at room temperature (I used Butter Lite – gives a good aroma)

200g castor sugar

2 tbsps condensed milk (optional but I added it)

250 gms eggs at room temperature( ~ 5 eggs without shell)

150gms dried blackcurrants

240gms all purpose flour }

5 gms baking powder       }  sifted together

50gms milk (I used ½ & ½ with evaporated milk and low fat milk)

Directions

1.                  Preheat oven to 180oC,

2.                  Beat butter and sugar until light and pale

3.                  Add in eggs one at a time at the highest speed on the mixer, beating well after each.

4.                  Mix blackcurrants into the sifted flour with baking powder and mix thoroughly.

5.                  Add 1/3 of the flour and currant mixture into the egg and butter mixture and mix on low speed. Alternate this with milk and ensure to end with flour

6.                  Pour batter into a greased baking tin and bake in the middle or lower rack until done.

Moist Chocolate Cake

This is one of the moist chocolate cake recipes that I love and so does my family. The cake is extremely simple to make and simply delicious. I have made this cake quite a number of times. I took this recipe from Mamafami's blog (thanks Mamafami for sharing this recipe) and tweaked it a litttle to my liking.

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 cups castor sugar (Original recipe called for 2 cups but I used only one cup of sugar )
¾ cup cocoa powder (I used VanHouten Cocoa powder)
1 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (1 used 1 tbsp of vinegar + 1 cup of low fat milk)
1 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1 cup boiling water + 1 tablespoons nescafe granules

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150C.

2. Grease and line a 8" cake pan.

3. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder together. Mix castor sugar into the sifted ingredients.This makes the dry ingredients.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla essence and  oil until it is well mixed. This makes the wet ingredients.

5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well(I just used a whisk) .

6. Dissolve coffee in boiling water and add it to cake mixture. Mix well.

7. Pour cake mixture into the greased cake pan and bake for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours or until done. (Since this is a slow bake cake, it took about 1 1/2 hours to bake in my oven).

8. Invert the cake onto a plate to cool.

9. Once cake has cooled complety, pour chocolate topping and decorate with chocolate rice.