Red Velvet Cupcakes!

What is red velvet cake? According to Wikipedia, "a red velvet cake is a sweet, moist, rich cake that is a dark red, bright red or red brown colour. It is usually prepared as a layer cake somewhere between vanilla & chocolate in favour, topped with a creamy white icing." It is believed to have originated from South America. Its recent popularity is attributed to its role in the 1989 film "Steel Magnolias" where a red velvet cake appeared as a wedding cake in the shape of a armadillo with grey icing.

I wanted to bake something red this weekend as it is Valentine's Day so I found this red velvet cupcakes recipe, which turned out to be quite a challenge. This was the first time apple vinegar and cake flour were called for in my baking. Since apple vinegar is not readily available in the supermarkets, the Husband rose to the challenge and found me a bottle from a healthstore after much googling. As cake flour is also not easily available, I made a substitute from plain flour and cornflour (known as cornstarch in the US). I do not know if sourcing for these ingredients would have actually been easier in London but it does show the variety of ingredients one can get easily in the States.

These cupcakes turned out a beautiful red-brown colour and were iced with a mascarpone cheese icing. As described, these cupcakes are really sweet and the icing made them really creamy. The Husband was not keen as he found the icing too creamy.

This session also taught me 2 lessons - 1) Do not bake cupcakes on 2 different shelves in the oven at the same time, they will not rise enough and you can end up with dents on top. 2) An American recipe usually calls for too much icing, so halving the required amount of icing will be wise. You can always make more!