Red velvet cupcakes

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter, softened
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 large free-range eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon white vinegar
½ cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons red food coloring

Cream cheese icing:

3 cups icing sugar mixture
150g butter, softened
125g cream cheese, softened

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake papers and set aside.

Sift together flour, baking powder in a bowl. Mix cocoa, water and food colouring together until you have a smooth paste.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy then stir in vanilla. Add one egg and beat for one minute then, add the second egg and beat in again for another minute.

Add flour mixture and stir until combined. Add buttermilk, vinegar, and cocoa mixture then beat entire mixture until smooth.

Fill cupcake papers 3/4 full and bake for 13-15 minutes. Stick a butter knife into a cupcake. If it comes out clean, the cupcakes are ready. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

To make cream cheese icing, beat together the softened butter, cream cheese and icing sugar. Completely cover the tops of the cupcakes.

Notes:

Obviously, it is the colour of the cake that gives these cupcakes the gorgeous name of Red Velvet. The red colour can be achieved through red food colouring (as I have done with this recipe) but you can also find recipes for Red velvet cake that use beetroot to give it its distinct tint.
Don’t worry about your kids will go nuts after eating these cupcakes because of all the red food colouring – you can now buy all-natural red food colouring!