Thursday Dessert Day!

Haha, Nigella says it herself in the Method, the color of the cupcakes turn out not to be so red after all! But they are velvet, for sure. We had some little meringue toppings left so that’s what we opted for, instead of chocolate sprinkles or red sugar. They taste delicious. I wonder how many are left over on the counter of the BUX HQ kitchen? -enjoy-

Ingredients (Makes 24)

For the Cupcakes

250 grams plain flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (sifted)
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
100 grams soft unsalted butter
200 grams caster sugar
1 heaped tablespoon christmas-red paste food colouring
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
175 millilitres buttermilk
1 teaspoon cider vinegar

For the Buttery Cream-Cheese Frosting

500 grams icing sugar
125 grams cream cheese
125 grams soft unsalted butter
1 teaspoon cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
chocolate sprinkles for decoration
red sugar for decoration

Method

For the cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3/325°F, and line 2 muffin tins with paper cases.
Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.
In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar, beating well, and when you have a soft, pale mixture beat in the food colouring – yes all of it – and the vanilla.
Into this vividly coloured mixture, still beating, add 1 spoonful of the dried ingredients, then 1 egg, followed by some more dried ingredients, then the other egg, followed by the rest of the dried ingredients.
Finally beat in the buttermilk and the vinegar and divide this extraordinary batter between the 24 cases. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes by which time the redcurrant-sorbet-coloured batter will have morphed into a more sombre, but still juicily tinted, sponge – more maroon acrylic than red velvet, to be honest.
Leave them to cool on a wire rack and do not ice with the frosting till absolutely cold.

For the buttery cream-cheese frosting

Put the icing sugar into a processor and whizz to remove lumps.
Add the cream cheese and butter and process to mix. Pour in the cider vinegar (or lemon juice) and process again to make a smooth icing.
Ice each cupcake, using a teaspoon or small spatula.
Decorate with chocolate sprinkles and red sugar, or as desired.