Red Velvet Cupcakes

Yesterday, I made red velvet cupcakes without even knowing I did so! The recipe looked lovely to me and although it called for red food colouring, it didn't strike me that it was "RED VELVET CUPCAKES". Well first of all, it didn't have a cream cheese frosting (which is a good thing, since I'm not a major fan of it anyways). And second of all, I didn't know that red velvet cupcakes also had some cocoa powder and vinegar in it. (Only discovered that today at 7AM as I was flipping through some cookbooks...).

These cupcakes were called "February Cupcakes" and are this month's recipe in my foodie calendar from Marks and Spencer.

Here's the recipe, modified slightly by me.

Ingredients:

For the cake

150g butter

300g caster sugar

2 eggs

275ml buttermilk (Laban Up in the UAE!)

1 teaspoon red food coloring

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 tablespoon vinegar

250g plain flour

5 tablespoons cocoa powder

For the frosting

75g unsalted butter

250g icing sugar

75g sweetened condensed milk (my newest obsession- it's amazing to lick this off your fingers!)

75ml double cream

whatever decorations you want

PROCEDURE

1. Preheat oven to 180c and line two 12-hole cupcake tins

2. Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, buttermilk, red food colouring, and vanilla. Stir in bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Separately, combine flour, cocoa powder, and salt and then stir into the mixture.

3. Divide mixture into paper cases and bake for about 15 minutes.

4. For the frosting, beat all the ingredients together and ice only when cakes have completely cooled.