I have this passion for cooking that when I want to cook something, all I have to do is read and follow the recipe and the result will always be delicious. Even if it is my first time to cook the dish, the result will always be superb. Maybe, I was a baker or a chef in my past life.
Cooking has always been my therapy. So last Saturday, after all the stress from work (BTW, I am a government lawyer) I decided to try baking for the first time. I Googled recipe for red velvet cupcakes, drove my way to the grocery store to buy the ingredients and started to work my magic in our kitchen.
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| screen shot from my Instagram account. |
The result was amazing! My sister and pamangkins loved my take on the red velvet cupcake. I brought some in the office and my officemates loved it, too! In fact, some of them are asking me to bake some more. (So, proud of myself!) hehe. They loved the cream cheese frosting, too.
I told you, I Googled the recipe and I found this Blog called The Alchemist which offered the recipe of the super moist red velvet cupcake I followed.There are other interesting recipes in the said blog, too, just click on the link. Click here.
Here's the recipe: (Courtesy: Melissa aka The Alchemist)
Super Moist Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
an original recipe by Melissa, aka The Alchemist
makes about 32 cupcakes
Ingredients
3 cups (450 g.) all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup (25 g.) cocoa
2 1/2 cups (515 g.) sugar
1 cup (236 ml.) vegetable oil or another type of neutral oil
1 cup (225 g.) butter, melted
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups (354 ml.) buttermilk well shaken, (or add a tablespoon of vinegar to regular milk and let sit for a few minutes) Or use 1/2 yogurt and half soured milk. (that's what I did this time, but I've also used only soured milk)
1 Tablespoon vinegar, white or cider
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
red paste food coloring-use enough to get it as red as you want it. I use almost a half a jar.
Or if you only have access to the liquid color in the grocery store, you will need a whole (1 oz.) bottle.
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, 160 degrees Celsius, or Gas Mark
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and
cocoa.
Beat together the sugar, melted butter and oil until smooth, about 3 minutes in an stand mixer. Or you can use a hand mixer.
Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Add the vinegar and the vanilla.
Add half the dry ingredients and mix well, then add half of the buttermilk and/or yogurt if you are using it.
Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix well, then add the rest of the buttermilk/yogurt.
Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix well, then add the rest of the buttermilk/yogurt.
Add the color. If using the paste, add quite a bit, then stir and see if it's dark enough. Add more color to get it really red if it needs it. I use almost 1/2 a jar of the Wilton paste. If you are using the liquid, add the whole (1 oz.) bottle of liquid and mix well.
Scoop the batter with an ice cream scoop into muffin cups lined with cupcake liners, **edited to add** these cupcakes can be a bit greasy on the bottom, if you don't want that, then bake them in greaseproof or foil cupcake liners.** about 3/4 of the way full. The batter is quite liquidy, so alternately you can use a measuring cup with a spout and pour the batter in the cups that way, if you prefer.
Bake the cupcakes for 25-32 minutes. They're done when they pass a toothpick test .
When cool, frost the cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting recipe
below. Top with crumbs if you like. It took me 2 cupcakes of crumbs to
cover 30 cupcakes. (the recipe made 32.)
Cream Cheese Frosting
2, 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
2 sticks (1 cup) (225 g.) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 Tablespoons Vanilla extract
pinch of salt
5-7 cups (625 g. to 875 g.) powdered sugar
Beat the cream cheese and the butter together with a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer.
Beat it well until very creamy, about 4 minutes. Add the vanilla, 5 cups
(625 g.) of sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat well until very fluffy,
another 3 minutes or so.
Now check the consistency of the frosting. If you are going to pipe it,
you may want it a little stiffer. I used exactly 5 cups (625 g.) and I
was just able to pipe it. If you like a stiffer frosting, go ahead and add more powdered sugar to get it the way you like it.
