What is it about cupcakes that turns women into girls and guys into mush?

I mean, isn't it a bit of a cake with loads of lovely decoration on top?

Who cares?!

This cupcake is absolutely adorable. I just love the Red Velvet Cake and when we made it at one of the Mona's Meals Workshops nobody cared that we had to throw 5 litres of food colouring into it: once baked we just attacked it. The cupcakes are brilliant because they cook quicker, are amazingly easy to make and will impress anybody, I promise you.

Moreover, read on because there are a  couple of tricks which I've discovered make all the difference.

The tricks:

1. Take the butter out of the fridge a good few minutes before you mix it with the sugar so that it is not rock hard.

2. Use Oetker red colouring: nothing comes close to its true red when cooked and believe me I've tried them all

3. With cupcakes it's all about the cups: gold and silver ones look gorgeous with these

4. The red 'decoration' on top? That's just crumbs from the actual cakes. I took them out of the cases, stole crumbs and flicked them back on top. Gorgeous, non?

 

Prepare a 12-hole muffin pan or 2 6-hole ones by lining them with cupcake cups.

 

You need:

60g unsalted butter at room temperature [see note 1 above]

140g caster sugar

1 egg

20g dark cocoa powder

40ml Oetker red food colouring

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

120ml buttermilk [click here for info]

150g 00 flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Cream cheese frosting: I usually mix 2 packs of Philadelphia or mascarpone with icing sugar to taste

 

How:

• Blitz the butter and sugar in a machine until they are well incorporated and fluffy. Switch the speed on to slow and add the egg until again, everything is incorporated
• Grab a large bowl and mix the cocoa, colouring and vanilla until you have a thick paste.
• Add this to the butter and sugar mixture which are still in your mixing machine, continually scraping until you have a very well-blended mix
• Add half the buttermilk and mix slowly
• Then add half the flour
• Add the next half of the of the buttermilk, mix again, then the other half of the flour, mixing again.
• Scrape all the sides again with a spatula and mix to incorporate
• Through the funnel while the mixer is still going add the bicarbonate of soda and the lemon juice. Continue mixing on a slow speed.
• Turn the speed up, mix for a minute or so and switch off.
• Spoon the mix into the paper cups, leaving around a centimetre or so empty.
• Pop into the oven until you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean: around 20 to 25 minutes, depending on its position. Do not open and close the door before as the cupcakes will collapse
• Cool on a wire rack
• When cooled down, decorate with the cream cheese frosting.
• Demolish by stuffing face.

If you love beautiful and good stuff check out this magazine http://www.sweetpaulmag-digital.com/sweetpaulmag/summer2011?pg=1&pm=2&u1=texterity#pg10