There's something so exciting about making something a different colour to what it should be. Therefore, i was SO up for trying out some red velvet cupcakes. Apparently these little delights originally got their red colour from a chemical reaction that took place between the ingredients used to make them. As time passed however, something happened and they no longer do that. (Explanations on a postcard please)
So, these days, we cram them full of red food colouring so that when you stick your fork (or face) into them, you are still greeted with a burst of bright red cakey joy.
Kal sat dribbling while i snapped his cake
I went for the hummingbird bakery recipe. I became a bit wary of this book after several failed attempts to re-create the vanilla cupcakes which look so beautiful in the photos. After lots of googling, I found that numerous people had the same problem with that recipe (and a few others). Each time, my cupcakes had come out dense with a funny bubbly layer on the top and although I planned to plaster them with icing, it just wasn't good enough.
However, I decided to let them off as their chocolate muffins were so good.
The recipe made me feel a bit nostalgic because it contains bicarbonate of soda, vinegar and red food colouring, which as I'm sure most people know means VOLCANOES! In my case, a huuuge Papier-mâche one that erupted tremendously all over the floor!
I can't pretend i wasn't excited when I pulled these out of
the oven.
Different recipes call for different types of food dye, but I had read that the gel dye was more effective and it felt better to just put in a teaspoon of gel, rather than a whole bottle of liquid dye.
The icing is a cream cheese icing, made with butter, cream cheese and icing sugar. There are tonnes of different versions available on the web, including here . A really great icing reference page!
All in all. These were a huge success. Although they are made with cocoa, they aren't really chocolate cakes at all. They have a subtle chocolately flavour and a beautiful texture. And best of all, they're blimin red!
