Vanilla cupcake with chocolate cream cheese frosting

I posted an entry of the red velvet cupcakes that I made recently and they all look so cute and adorable. So now I am quite into cupcakes.

And this time, I made vanilla cupcakes with Chocolate creamcheese frosting for a Christmas lunch gathering at my friend's place.

It was a great Christmas day celebration with great company and good food.

Merry Merry Christmas!!

For the cupcake

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups cake flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup oil (vegetable, canola or extra light olive oil)

1/2 cup buttermilk *

* If you can't find buttermilk, you can also use the following substitute

- 1/2 cup milk plus 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice - set aside for 5 minutes before using

- 1/2 cup yogurt

Directions

* Preheat oven to 350*F (180 Deg C)

* In a medium bowl, add cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir together with whisk, and set aside.

* In the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and beat 10-20 seconds.  Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 30 seconds.  Add vanilla and oil, beat.

* Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture.  Add half of the milk, then the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk.  Beat until just combined.  Scrap down the side of the bowl.

* The batter will be thin.   Pour batter into a muffin pan prepared with paper liners.  Fill liners about 2/3 full.

* Bake cupcakes in pre-heated oven for 12-14 minutes.

* Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan (carefully) and finish cooling on a wire rack.

* Frost as desired when fully cool.

For the frosting

Ingredients

½ cup (1 stick/8 Tablespoons) butter (set at room temp about 10 minutes, but should still be cool)
8 oz. cream cheese (directly from fridge)

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (always use pure vanilla extract if possible)
4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
1 to 4 Tablespoons heavy cream, heavy whipping cream

Direction

* Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.

* Add cocoa powder and blend until combined.

* Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.

* Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don’t add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)

* Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.

*Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)

Happy Holidays everyone!

Red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting

I have always been wanting to try to make a red velvet cake but didn't really go about looking for a recipe from the internet. And recently I found a recipe from Glorious Treats and decided to give it a try because the pictures is just too adorable. This cake is good for occasions like Valentine's Day or Christmas because of the colour.

For the cupcake

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (Dutch process)

1  tsp salt

1 1/3 cups oil (Canola oil or any cooking oil)

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

4 tbsp liquid red food coloring (or 1 tablespoons concentrated food coloring)

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp white vinegar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*F (180 Deg C).  

2. In a large bowl whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt, and set aside.

3. Whisk or beat oil and sugar until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, and continue beating.  

4. Add food coloring and vanilla and mix well.

5.  Add flour and buttermilk alternately, in two batches. Mix just enough to combine. 

*I am not able to get any buttermilk from the Cold Storage near my house, so I used yogurt as substitute which I just so happens to have a tub which I bought to go with my cereals. To use yogurt, it will be 1-to-1 ratio, which means 1 cup of buttermilk equals to 1 cup yogurt. There are other substitutes if you do not have yogurt. You can also use 1 cup of milk plus 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice.

6.  Place baking soda in a bowl or cup, add vinegar and stir (it will foam and expand).  Add to cake batter and beat for 10 seconds.

7. Fill cupcake liners 2/3-3/4 full. Bake cupcakes 20-24 minutes.

For the cream cheese frosting

Ingredients

½ cup (1 stick/8 Tablespoons) butter (set at room temp about 10 minutes, but should still be cool)

8 oz. cream cheese (directly from fridge)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered confectioners sugar
1 to 2 tbsp heavy cream, heavy whipping cream

Directions

1.  Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add cream cheese and blend until fully combined

2.  Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar while mixing.  Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy. For the powdered sugar, though I it says 2 cups, it really depends on personal preference. I do not like my frosting to be too sweet, so actually I have only used less than 2 cups of powdered sugar.

3.  Slowly add the heavy cream, add abit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don’t add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.) Beat until fluffy and you can start frosting your cupcakes!

 

They looks cute right :D Looking at them makes me smile!

 

 My cake looks darker then the usual bright red velvet cake. This is because this recipe used a slightly more amount for cocoa powder. If you want, you can reduce the amount of cocoa powder so it doesn't look more like maroon colour.