Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

I made the Red Velvet cupcakes and cream cheese frosting to decorate them, and they turned out very moist and really velvety, and the cream cheese frosting complements their taste perfectly.

For the cupcakes:

• Flour – 220 g
• Sugar – 160 g
• Kefir – 180 ml (room temperature)
• Vegetable oil – 120 ml
• Eggs – 2
• Baking soda – 2/3 tsp
• Baking powder – 2/3 tsp
• Cocoa powder – 10 g
• Vanilla extract – 1 tsp
• Red food colouring – 1 tsp

For the frosting:

• Philadelphia cream cheese – 300 g (cold, straight from the fridge)
• Icing sugar – 100 g
• Double cream – 100 ml (cold, straight from the fridge)
• Red food colouring (optional) – 1 tsp
• Red/white heart sprinkles for decoration (optional)

Method is explained and illustrated below. Enjoy!

Sift the flour into the bowl.

Sift in cocoa powder…

… add baking powder…

… and mix together with a spatula.

Now put the bowl with dry ingredients aside.
Add eggs into the whisking bowl…

… and whisk until foamy.

While whisking, gradually add sugar…

… and keep whisking.

Add vanilla extract…

… and keep whisking until light and foamy.

Now, time to add some red food colouring. I use Red Extra by Sugaflair Colours. Make sure your colouring doesn’t discolour at high temperatures.

Add a teaspoon of red food colouring into the mixture…

… and whisk briefly just to mix it in.

Place kefir (of room temperature) into a separate bowl, add baking soda…

… and mix it in. You should get a chemical reaction immediately. Kefir will increase in volume and get fizzy.

Add vegetable oil into the kefir and soda mixture…

… and mix it in.

Now, start adding dry and wet ingredients into the main whisking bowl, gradually, in a few portions, alternating them with each other. You can also start pre-heating your oven to 180C at this stage.
Start with the first portion of the flour mixture…

… and mix it in at the minimal speed.

Then add the first portion of the kefir and oil mixture…

… and mix it in.
Continue until you’ve mixed all the dry and wet ingredients in. Make sure the last portion to be mixed in is the dry flour mixture.

Prepare the baking tray for cupcakes. Put in the cupcake cases into it, or, if you don’t have any, grease the tray with oil or butter.

Ladle the batter into the cupcake cases…

to fill them in about half way…

… and bake at 180C for 15 to 20 minutes.
Once the cupcakes are ready, take them out of the oven…

… and place them on the rack to cool down.

Now make the cream.
Put the cream cheese (cold, straight from the fridge) into the bowl…

… add icing sugar…

… and whisk for a minute or two, just to combine.

Add the double cream (cold, straight from the fridge)…

… and whisk at a high speed, until the cream thickens. Be careful not to overmix. The cream should turn out very light, smooth and glossy.

The Red Velvet cakes and cupcakes are traditionally made with white cream. However, I decided to make half of the cupcakes with white cream, and another half with red cream.
I divided the cream into 2 equal parts…

… added about a teaspoon of the red food colouring into one part of the cream…

… and whisked it in just to combine. The cream turned a beautiful bright shade of red.

Now, time to decorate the cupcakes.
Take a piping bag, cut off the edge and put a nozzle into it…

… making sure the edge of the nozzle is out.

Make a well (you can also use a tall glass…)

… and put the white cream into it, a few spoonfuls at a time. Make sure to hold onto the nozzle from underneath.

Now, make sure you close the top of the bag, and push the cream down to the nozzle. Squeeze the bag slightly to let the cream come out off the nozzle…

… and decorate your cupcakes with the white cream.

Squeeze the cream onto a cupcake in a circular motion like this.

 

If you wish, you can sprinkle them with red heart sprinkles. Your amazing cupcakes with white cream are ready! 🙂

Take another piping bag and repeat the above actions with the red cream.

Decorate the rest of the cupcakes with red cream…

… in the same way…

… and decorate them with white heart sprinkles if you wish. Your beautiful cupcakes with red cream are ready! 🙂

The cupcakes look so gorgeous…

… that you may even feel sorry to eat them!

But when you finally taste them, you’ll find them very light, fluffy and amazingly delicious.