My mother has always insisted that a man’s stomach is the way to his heart so what better way than CAKE! In the future when I have lots of time and money (haha) I really want to try this Hidden Heart Cake because it looks amazing, but for now I’ll stick with some Red Velvet Cupcakes.
I’ve read all sorts of recipes for these including buttermilk, beetroot and other things but I’ve kept mine as simple as possible so that anyone can do them! The scales we’ve got at our kitchen are annoying inaccurate so I tend to weigh the eggs and then measure equal flour, butter and sugar. As long as you keep everything in proportion it tends to work out so if you want a bigger batch just adjust the mixture.
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180⁰C.
2 Eggs
Unsalted Butter (I use Stork)
Caster Sugar
Self-Raising Flour
1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
2 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder
A splash of milk
Red Food dye (as much as you want)
(You’ll notice that my measurements are not very specific. That’s simply because that’s the way I bake, a splash here, a dollop there. Baking is all about trial and error so the more you do it the more you’ll recognise if the consistency and taste of the mixture is right or not!)
First cream the butter and sugar together. Then add the eggs, beating them in as you go. Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and mix all ingredients together. Add a splash of milk and red food dye in drops, mixing as you go to gauge colour. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes turning the tray around at after at least 12 minutes so that they bake evenly but don’t sink.
When they’re done cool them on a wire rack and get making the butter icing.
Unsalted Butter
Cream Cheese
Icing Sugar
Don’t ask me how much I used of each because I don’t think I have EVER measured anything when making icing. I spooned equal dollops of butter and cream cheese (a large wooden spoonful of each) into a bowl and creamed together. Then I sifted in icing sugar until it felt stiff enough to hold its shape but not so stiff that it wouldn’t pipe properly. If the mixture becomes too stiff just splash a very small amount of milk in.
Then I got to use my absolute favourite piece of baking kit. It’s a Lakeland silicone piping set my mum got me for Christmas and it is literally the best thing ever. Once you get over the fact that it looks like a giant condom it’s really easy to use and washes up in a nanosecond.
I then piped a swirl on each cupcake (I apologise that some look a bit suspect but I was running out of icing). Now, if I wanted the cakes to look sophisticated I would leave them like that but do I ‘eck ever want my cakes to look posh. So on went the edible glitter. LOOOVE the edible glitter. Then using writing icing I iced badly drawn hearts on them all, since it is Valentine’s Day after all.
I then had a cup of tea and ate one. What else would I do?
P.S. My mum sent me this picture of the cake she made for my dad this morning. That isn’t one small cupcake of many. It is one GIANT cupcake. As in the plate it’s on is the size of a dinner plate. I started to feel a bit inferior about my poxy cupcakes after this but my mum has had thirty odd extra years at this game so I’ll get over it.
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