Red Velvet Cupcakes

The red velvet cupcakes and cakes had been my husband’s request for quite some time and the Valentine’s Day was the best day to try it out. The amount of red food coloring used may be scary for some people but I wanted my cupcakes really RED..!!! The same recipe could be used to bake a red velvet cake.

This recipe makes 18 cupcakes and each cupcake provides approximately 149 Calories.

Ingredients:

250 grams plain flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder (sifted)

2 teaspoons baking powder

100 grams soft unsalted butter

200 grams caster sugar

1 heaped tablespoon red food colouring

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs

175 ml buttermilk

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and line 3 muffin trays with paper cases.
2. Mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking powder in a bowl.
3. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar, beating well, and when you have a soft, pale mixture beat in the food colouring and the vanilla.
4. Into this mixture, still beating, add 1 spoonful of the dried ingredients, then 1 egg, followed by some more dried ingredients, then the other egg, followed by the rest of the dried ingredients.
5. Finally beat in the buttermilk and divide the batter between the 18 cases. 
6. Bake in the oven for about 55 minutes.
7. Leave them to cool on a wire rack and don’t ice with the frosting till cupcakes are absolutely cold.

Recipe by Chaya Ranasinghe