My savings plan has been put momentarily on hold, I got a little bit carried away at the Boxing Day sales and purchased so many things that I didn't really need ($40 beach towel, another swim suit, clothes that I didn't need). I hope I have enough for my big Peru/Europe trip come June, groan.
I adapted this recipe from the Tasted by Two recipe found here.
Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes 12)
Preparation time: 1 hour
Baking time: 18 - 20 minutes
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
50 g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup caster sugar
3 - 4 tbsp red food colouring
1 egg, room temperature
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp baking powder
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a cupcake pan with patty pans, I like the larger cupcake liners, I think they work a little bit better. Sift the flour and salt in a small bowl and set it aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. I made the mistake of putting too much sugar the first couple of attempts, so make sure the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well.
In a small bowl, mix the cocoa, vanilla and red food colouring together, if the mixture isn't wet enough, add a little bit of milk, I found the cocoa powder made the mixture a bit clumpy. Add this to the butter and sugar mixture and beat with the electric mixer until you get an even colour.
Add the milk and flour mixture to the batter in even parts. I didn't do this the first time around and the mixture was really wet and looked like brains, and you really don't want that. Beat until smooth and make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and continue beating until you have an even mixture.
In a small bowl, stir the cider vinegar and baking soda together and add this to the mixture and continue to beat the mixture until it is smooth and even.
Divide the batter evenly between the patty pans. I like to use an ice cream scoop with the flippy handle to do this because it makes things easier. I try to fill the patty pans to about 3/4 of the way, any more and the cupcakes look like toadstools when you pull them out of the oven and any less than half way, won't fill out the liners and the cupcakes don't look generous enough. Bake them for about 18-20 minutes and I usually use a toothpick or skewer to test if the cupcakes are ready - if the toothpick comes out clean then they're okay!
Leave them in the pan for about 5 - 10 minutes and then take them out to cool on a rack. Make sure they are completely cool before you ice them.
After the cupcakes have been in the oven for about 10 minutes, I start on the cream cheese icing.
Cream cheese icing
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
100g cream cheese (the Woolworths Home Brand cream cheese works really well, I've tried others and they left rubbery bits in the mixture and I had to throw out the entire thing and start again)
50g unsalted butter
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Blend all the ingredients together until smooth, light and fluffy. I like to pipe my icing onto the cupcakes and I really recommend the plastic disposable ones you can get from the grocery store, they work really well.
That's it! This is my favourite recipe and the cupcakes are always really dense and work really well with the cream cheese. I've tried to do a fancy dollop of icing like the ones from Sprinkles or Magnolia Bakery, but fail every time, so piping works fine. Let me know how you find the recipe!
About a fortnight ago now, I dragged a friend to the highly interactive Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Recorders exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art here in Sydney. It was so much fun, I can't even begin to explain how amazing it was. Mexican-Canadian Lozano-Hemmer was there to do a talk about his work and what he was trying to do with it. I really appreciated that his aim was to invite all kinds of people to participate and experience his art rather than an exclusive group of art critics. It was really interactive, and was so different to anything I've ever seen before - lots of trackers, heart monitors, light bulbs, mirrors, scanners, very, very cool. I really enjoyed the exhibit and I encourage everyone to go and see it while it's still in town (Feb 12), I should probably also mention that it is also free!
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