My Birthday, My Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes

Happy Birthday to ME!! Haha…....this sounds so funny, normally I used to wish people 'Happy Birthday' and not to myself. Anyway, this year I wished myself 'Happy Birthday' early Sunday morning when I woke up……as I was feeling very happy, and also very satisfied as I have lived another year filled with love, happiness and the best of health and also………some of the things that I wanted to do or achieve, has indeed been done and achieved. Well, I thanked the Lord for all his abundant blessings that he has showered upon me, without Him, I really wouldn't know where am I now………..and in what situation I'll be in. Praise God!!Well, I was very happy this birthday as I received tonnes of birthday wishes from friends and relatives, my boys treated me to a Pizza Hut dinner and Hubby gave me a birthday present that I really like (though I must say it'll take me sometime to master it, hehe) – it's a Samsung Wave GT-S8500!! What else could I ask for?? I'm really blessed with all these, thank you so much !!!

Then, getting back to my baking……..eventhough it's my birthday today, I'm definitely going to bake something, moreover it's a Sunday…………..how can I not bake, right? Hehe………….. So, I ran through my 'To Bake' list that I have listed all the things that I wanted to try to bake …….and there it is……."Red Velvet Cupcakes"!! Perfect choice for this occasion and also since I've baked 5000 cupcakes in the last 2 days……and the mood of baking cupcakes are still hot in my blood, why not!!??

I told the kids, "Mummy is going to bake cupcakes for my birthday"………and guessed what Angelica said? "Huh? Mummy, you are baking cake for your own birthday, then they'll be no surprise already lo??" LOL……….I couldn't stop laughing and assured her that "it's OK, Sweetie, Mummy already has a lot of surprises from you all". By the way, this Red Velvet Cupcakes has already been sitting my list for almost a year now, if I'm not mistaken, so I'd better bake it now before it sits there for another year, hahaha. The recipe was adapted from 'The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook' and I only did a little alteration in the method part :p

 This Red Velvet Cupcakes has a very distinguish ton of red and it stands out really well especially when you pair it with Vanilla Cream Cheese buttercream. The red from the cake and the white from the buttercream is a perfect match!! If you like the look of this cupcakes here in my blog…….then you should try it ^-

Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes (Adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

Makes 24 mini cupcakes

Ingredients for cupcakes:

60gm Unsalted butter, room temperature

150gm castor sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

10gm cocoa powder

20ml red food coloring (gel/paste)

½ tsp vanilla essence

120ml buttermilk

150gm plain flour

½ tsp salt (you can omit this if you are using salted butter)

½ tsp bicarbonate soda

1 ½ tsp white wine vinegar (I omitted this one)

Ingredients for Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream:

300gm Icing sugar, sifted

50gm unsalted butter, room temperature

125gm cream cheese, room temperature

1 tsp Vanilla essence

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degree Celsius. Line the cupcakes cases on the baking tray. Set aside.
2. Place butter and sugar in a medium bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Add in the egg and beat until well combined. Add in Vanilla essence and food coloring and beat until the color is mixed evenly through the batter. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl so that all the batter is evenly mixed.
4. In a separate bowl, add cocoa powder, bicarbonate soda and salt to the sifted flour. On slow speed, slowly add the flour mixture, then buttermilk in 3-4 intervals, alternate by starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Beat until the mixture is smooth.
5. Spoon the batter into each casing filling only about 60% or 2/3 full.
6. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes depending on individual oven. To check the doneness of the cake, the top will bounces back when lightly touched and the skewer will comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
7. Leave to cool completely on the wire rack before frosting.
8. For the frosting : in a mixer, beat half the amount of icing sugar and butter until well mixed.
9. Add in the cream cheese and beat well. Add the remaining icing sugar into the buttercream until you get the consistency you wanted. *Don't worry if you happen to use more that 300gm of icing sugar, as it varies on individuals.
10. When you get the correct consistency, you are ready to frost your cupcakes!

Happy Birthday to ME and Happy Cupcakes baking to you!!