Weekend Cooking...Red Velvet Cupcakes

While I do bake from time to time, by no means do I consider myself a baker. Baking is too much like high school chemistry to be totally enjoyable for me. Red Velvet cake is the perfect example. It was the niece's birthday and the birthday girl wanted red velvet cupcakes, so red velvet cupcakes there would be. Off I went in search of a recipe. And then there arose the whole issue of Dutched vs. natural cocoa. I read recipe after recipe, extolling the virtue of each and the use of baking power vs. baking soda as a leavening agent, depending on which sort of cocoa you used. From the Joy of Baking.com...

"Dutch-Processed or Alkalized Unsweetened Cocoa Powder is treated with an alkali to neutralize its acids. Because it is neutral and does not react with baking soda, it must be used in recipes calling for baking powder, unless there are other acidic ingredients in sufficient quantities used. It has a reddish-brown color, mild flavor, and is easy to dissolve in liquids. Its delicate flavor makes it ideal in baked goods like European cakes and pastries where its subtle flavor complements other ingredients. 

Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder tastes very bitter and gives a deep chocolate flavor to baked goods. Its intense flavor makes it well suited for use in brownies, cookies and some chocolate cakes. When natural cocoa (an acid) is used in recipes calling for baking soda (an alkali), it creates a leavening action that causes the batter to rise when placed in the oven."

Well, it seems most red velvet recipe call for the use of Dutched cocoa...but I could not find any, without buying it online, and I left it too late for that. Natural cocoa it would be. But which leavening was I suppose to use? It was all so confusing! Finally, I happened upon this recipe, from the Pinch My Salt website. It seemed to cover all the bases, with both baking powder and soda, buttermilk and vinegar. I present it here, with a few changes of my own based on some other recipes I read around the WWW.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

• 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 oz. red food coloring  or 1 tsp gel food coloring
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with  cupcake papers.
2. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a  medium bowl; set aside. In a small bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter  and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes.  Beat in  eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste,  scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go. Add one third of the  flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the  buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of  buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until  well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.
4. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. It will fizz! Cool! Add the vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Using an ice cream scoop or a scant 1/4 cup measure, fill cupcake cups with cake batter. They should be 1/2 to 2/3 filled. Place muffin tins on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for approximately 20-22 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake.
5. Cool the cupcakes in the tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool completely before frosting with cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

• 16 oz. cream cheese (2 packages), softened
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick), softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups powdered sugar

I applied the frosting using a piping bag with a star tip and added a few red sprinkles for a more festive look.

They were delicious if I do say so myself. A glass of cold milk, a cupcake, made by a fond aunt...perfection!

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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