Verdict: Red velvet cupcakes

In my opinion, they were slightly disappointing. They were reasonably good, but ultimately pretty boring. They don't taste of much, and although they are quite nice and moist... they don't taste of much. And I still don't really like icing, although this particular icing was much better than the regular sugar-and-water types. All in all, it's a success, but I really don't understand why this cake has such an incredible reputation. Give me an Elizabeth David chocolate cake any day...

Red velvet

There are few cakes whose reputation really precedes them. One is the Elizabeth David cake, whose reputation is entirely justified. Another is a very American recipe - the Red Velvet cake. I think it's time for me to try this one out, and to give it the best chance possible, the recipe I'm using is out of the Magnolia Bakery cookbook. I've decided to bake it as a batch of cupcakes though and the buttercream isn't actually what's suggested as icing, but the creamy vanilla frosting that they actually suggest looks like way too much hassle.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes

• 170g Butter
• 430g Caster sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 76ml (two bottles) Red food colouring
• 3tbsp Cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp Vanilla extract
• 355ml Buttermilk
• 330g Plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp Cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

For the buttercream

• 115g Butter
• 390g-500g Icing sugar
• 60ml Milk
• 1tsp Vanilla extract

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
2. Beat in the eggs.
3. Whisk in the food colouring, cocoa and vanilla extract.
4. Fold in the buttermilk and flour a little at a time, alternating buttermilk and flour.
5. Mix in the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.
6. Pour into cupcake moulds and bake for ~20mins at ~180C/Gas mark 3.
7. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
   
8. For the buttercream: Cream the butter, 260g of the icing sugar, the milk and the vanilla extract together.
9. Gradually add the remaining sugar, beating after each addition, until the buttercream is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency.
10. Spread or pipe buttercream on top of cooled cupcakes.

It turns out that this makes quite a lot of batter, so some of it had to be baked in a loose-bottomed tin as a regular cake.

Here's my glamourous assistant, Veronica.
The finished cake batter. Just look at that colour!
How much it made - twelve small cupcakes and about a sandwich tin's worth of batter.The cupcakes were a bit burnt on the top, but actually it's not as bad as it looks by a long shot. Even the most badly burnt bits were very edible.But just look at how pretty the cupcakes were when turned out!Me looking somewhat gormless while checking on the big cake.The cupcakes removed from the trays.The big cake.After icing. I think they look pretty good!