New recipe - Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting...yum!

I wonder what took me soooo long to try this recipe. Red velvet is one of the most popular cupcakes in America. This recipe is courtesy of the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. It was a lot quicker and simpler to make than I thought.

Ingredients
60g butter at room temperature
1 egg
150g caster sugar
10g cocoa
10ml red food colouring (preferably
Dr. Oetker Red Food Colouring
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
120ml buttermilk
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

Frosting
300g icing sugar, sifted
50g butter at room temperature
125g cream cheese, chilled

Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3.

Put the butter and the sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy and well mixed.  Turn the mixer up to high speed, slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well incorporated.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract to make a thick, dark paste. Add to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until evenly combined and coloured (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Turn the mixer down to slow speed and slowly pour in half the buttermilk. Beat until well mixed, then add half the flour, and beat until everything is well incorporated. Repeat this process until all the buttermilk and flour have been added. Scrape down the side of the bowl again. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have a smooth, even mixture. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed, then turn up the speed again and beat for a couple more minutes.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

And here are the results decorated with mini oreo cookies and maltesers:

And thanks to Grace for the gorgeous cupcake stand....I love it.

Everyone loves good feedback...

It's good to know that your hard work is appreciated!  The following is a testimonial from my corporate client on the branded cupcakes I supplied last month:

Hi Cheryl,

I just wanted to say how pleased I was with the cupcakes, the company image and logo was literally the icing on the cake!! I have had fantastic feedback from my meetings and have passed your details on to others. On most occasions I received thank you emails before I got back to the office and in one instance all the cakes had disappeared before I’d left the building so thank you very much and I will definitely be using you again for my other clients.

Kind regards

Andy Green

Howe UK

I think I'd better get a website...!

The moment you've all been waiting for...or maybe not!

I'm not sure how many times I have mentioned the Paul's Boutique bag, but you're probably sick of hearing me go on.  So here it is...

When I delivered it the birthday girl was there and it was nice to see her reaction.  She was chuffed.

Branded cupcakes

When I came up with the idea to make cupcakes, I was simply looking for a way to make some extra money.  I thought it was simple and quick and easy to market.  I never imagined that I would become a supplier to the corporate world!!

My lovely brother used his gift of the gab and basically sold my cupcakes to one of his industry contacts.  I took in a sample and got an order for six dozen!   My first thought was "yeah, brilliant", my second was "shit, how am I going to manage this!  Well I did and my client was very pleased.  So much so that there may be the opportunity for further orders.

Here we have lemon cupcake with lemon marmalade filling and lemon frosting

This is a chocolate cupcake with orange marmalade filling and chocolate orange frosting

My favourite, vanilla cupcake with strawberry jam filling and a vanilla frosting, yum!

The cakes are branded with a logo sent by my client.

Did you make those shoes?

It's been the busiest week that I've had in a long time.  Thankfully I'll be done by Friday with the delivery of the Paul's Boutique bag.

So the christening cake was beautiful...and I got lots of compliments from the guests.  And here it is...

My second go at the converse baby sneakers

I loved the feet, althought I had to put on 110 individual little toes...awwww!  My sister-in-law loved it so I am very happy.  I hope to get the chance to make another christening cake very soon.

Oh and I think I need a new camera, this one is rubbish :-)

These should really be Guy Fawkes cupcakes...

OK, Halloween has come and gone, but my friend's party is a belated one.  So here are the cupcakes I made.

These are dairy-free carrot cakes decorated with fondant.  Hope you enjoy them Laura!!