Happy Valentine's Day!!!
My views on Valentine's day are conflicted because although I'm opposed to the idea of it being this capitalist event, I am a huge fan of all the cute pink and red and heart shaped things that pop up this time of year!
The best way to celebrate any holiday though is with cupcakes so I made some Red Velvet Valentine's Day cupcakes for you guys!
My views on Valentine's day are conflicted because although I'm opposed to the idea of it being this capitalist event, I am a huge fan of all the cute pink and red and heart shaped things that pop up this time of year!
The best way to celebrate any holiday though is with cupcakes so I made some Red Velvet Valentine's Day cupcakes for you guys!
I have never made red velvet cupcakes before (I know, gasp) so I looked online at a couple recipes and combined them based on the ingredients I had and the type of flavour I wanted and came up with the recipe below! They turned out to be really moist and just chocolately enough to give them that classic red velvet taste.
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Makes around 12 large peaked cupcakes
Ingredients
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup of sugar
1 whole egg
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1 tbsp vanilla yogurt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp red food colouring (mine were barely red because I didn't want that artificial colouring taste)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake pan with liners.
2. Cream the sugar with the oil until smooth.
3. Add the egg and beat until incorporated fully.
4. Add the buttermilk, yogurt, vanilla extract and white vinegar and mix until combined.
5. Add all the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
6. Add the food colouring and mix, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom well until you have the desired colour(The colour will be less apparent after baking so make it more red than your final desired colour).
7. Pour the batter into the liners, filling about 3/4 full and bake for about 20 minutes.
8. When cool enough to touch, place on cooling rack to cool.
Makes around 12 large peaked cupcakes
Ingredients
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup of sugar
1 whole egg
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1 tbsp vanilla yogurt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp red food colouring (mine were barely red because I didn't want that artificial colouring taste)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake pan with liners.
2. Cream the sugar with the oil until smooth.
3. Add the egg and beat until incorporated fully.
4. Add the buttermilk, yogurt, vanilla extract and white vinegar and mix until combined.
5. Add all the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
6. Add the food colouring and mix, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom well until you have the desired colour(The colour will be less apparent after baking so make it more red than your final desired colour).
7. Pour the batter into the liners, filling about 3/4 full and bake for about 20 minutes.
8. When cool enough to touch, place on cooling rack to cool.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
5 oz butter (room temp)
5 oz cream cheese (room temp)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Method
1. Use the whisk attachment to beat butter and cream cheese for a couple whole minutes until its absolutely smooth and lump free
2. Add powdered sugar a little bit at a time until all is incorporated
3. Add vanilla extract and beat for another 5 minutes until it has a airy whipped frosting texture
I liked this recipe for frosting because it was pipeable. I find some cream cheese icing recipes to be too runny to pipe into rosettes. It's not the easiest task with this icing but if you pipe them then chill them (I put mine outside), they are firm enough to transport without problem.
Ingredients
5 oz butter (room temp)
5 oz cream cheese (room temp)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Method
1. Use the whisk attachment to beat butter and cream cheese for a couple whole minutes until its absolutely smooth and lump free
2. Add powdered sugar a little bit at a time until all is incorporated
3. Add vanilla extract and beat for another 5 minutes until it has a airy whipped frosting texture
I liked this recipe for frosting because it was pipeable. I find some cream cheese icing recipes to be too runny to pipe into rosettes. It's not the easiest task with this icing but if you pipe them then chill them (I put mine outside), they are firm enough to transport without problem.
I decorated mine with William's Sonoma Sanding sugar which as you can see from the picture below, is a neon pink colour which was perfect for Valentine's day! My roommate bought me these for Christmas and I've been dying to use them. I just put a little on each one to not overwhelm them.
I chose cupcakes because well, first of all, they are my favourite food. But ALSO because I am participating in this fundraising event called national Cupcake Day! It's for the SPCA which is an organization which helps abandoned animals. Essentially, I'm selling the cupcakes in exchange for a donation to an animal welfare charity of choice to raise funds for animals that are abused, abandoned, neglected or no longer wanted.
If you guys want to help me out by donating online, you can go to the following URL:
http://support.spca.bc.ca/site/TR/CupcakeDay/Cupcake2014?px=1463607&pg=personal&fr_id=1581
I brought these to my university night class and they were a huge hit :)
If you guys want to help me out by donating online, you can go to the following URL:
http://support.spca.bc.ca/site/TR/CupcakeDay/Cupcake2014?px=1463607&pg=personal&fr_id=1581
I brought these to my university night class and they were a huge hit :)
I'm actually baking some more cupcakes later today to sell too so stay tuned for the photos of those!
Happy Valentine's Day! Hope cupcakes are in your future for tomorrow! :)
Happy Valentine's Day! Hope cupcakes are in your future for tomorrow! :)