Martha Stewart's Red Velvet Cupcakes

One of my blogger friend highly recommended this book- Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. I know many bakers/bloggers have already owned this book. I was hesitant to buy it at first as I have many other cupcakes recipe books. I had it in my "wishlist" though. Finally, when there was a 10% off from Books Depository, I jumped in at it and ordered this book.

First recipe I tried was the Red Velvet Cupcakes. Actually, I dislike using american measurements - cups. It would never seem accurate to me. I wonder how they can use such metrics for baking where everything needs to be precise. Anyway, I followed their cup measurements. -_-// Whenever I tried recipes outside Asian countries, I tend to reduce the sugars, by quite a fair bit. There was no exception in this case. The Red Velvet Cupcakes were dense and moist. The cream cheese frosting was good too! (Especially with the reduction of sugars!) It is not overly cheesy with a good blend of butters. The frosting was really smooth and silky. I love this cupcake! Give it a try too!

Recipe for Red Velvet Cupcakes, adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Makes 24 regular cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups Cake flour
2 tbsps Unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tsp Salt
3/4 cups Caster sugar (original calls for 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 cups Vegetable oil
2 large Eggs, room temperature
1/2 tsp Red food colouring
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 cup Buttermilk (1 cup whole milk + 1 tsp lemon juice)
1 1/2 tsps Baking soda
2 tsps distilled White vinegar

Method:

1. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Sift cake flour and cocoa powder. Add salt and whisk together.
3. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in food colour and vanilla.
4. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, whisking well after each addition. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl; add mixture to the batter and mix on medium speed 10 seconds.
5. Divide batter evening among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full.
6. Bake in a preheated oven of 180C. Rotate muffin trays half way through, until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 20mins.
7. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months in airtight containers.

Cream Cheese Frosting

(12 oz) 340g Cream Cheese

(2 sticks) 227g Unsalted Butter

(4 cups) 100g Icing sugar, sifted

3/4 tsp Vanilla extract

Method:

1. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, in three batches, then add vanilla, and mix until smooth and combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 3 days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat on low speed until smooth again.
3. To frost the cupcakes, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature before serving.