Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing
All up, I was disappointed: the cupcakes were too firm (not velvety) and not really a decent red colour. I'm not ready to recommend this recipe yet. Perhaps some of you could have a go and let me know what I did wrong
I could have accidently over-mixed them using the 'folding' function on my mixer; it's a fairly universal baking fact that small cakes need the barest of mixing to keep them aerated enough to rise into light and fluffy morsels.
Another possibility is that I simply over-baked them.
Colouring the cupcakes was about the only thing I managed to not OVER-do! I didn't have a lot of liquid red colouring so tried to use my gel colour instead, but found out that it didn't blend in very well; the ingredients in a mixture like that are too heterogeneous in texture and consistency so the gel didn't have as much effect. Note to self for next time!
Without sounding like too much of a downer, the icing even when pear-shaped. I made the mistake of using low fat cream cheese for the icing. Taste-wise, I know well myself that low fat cream cheese is always a poor cousin to the full fattier version. So as a punishment for my lesser fat crimes, the icing started to separate due to the insufficient fat content.
Insufficient fat content made the icing separate (not properly mix) and crack along the edges of the rosettes |
And flailing all, just remember: a multitude of ills can be covered by edible glitter!!! Really popular with kids (little AND big!) :)
I promise there will be a less 'flailing' post to come shortly to show that success can be just around the corner...
What did you not like about the cupcakes? Love the icing.
ReplyDeleteHey Cheryl - that's a good point, I didn't really say did I! I'll go back and elaborate - along the lines that they were a mix tough (not-so-velvety) from overmixing and the colour wasn't really red enough. I love doing the rosettes, but it was a pity that the icing separated into the coloured sugar and the white cream cheese - kind of ruins the nice smooth effect I was going for. But I'm glad you like the look of them :) I'm sure you could rock something like this!
DeleteAh, colouring a red velvet cake... Lots of colour involved as I recall! Like nearly a whole bottle of the liquid colouring.
DeleteOh, you know I didn't even notice the lumps in the icing. They kind of look like pearls in the photo. Must be the distraction of all that lovely edible glitter!