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Hello! It’s me again, Nancy, part of the Baking Mad Team trying out recipes and blogging about my experiences every month

At the moment we are running a Valentine’s Baking competition with fifteen bloggers who are entering their Valentine’s creations in attempt to win some fantastic prizes.

All the talk about Valentine’s and cakes and baking got me thinking maybe I should have a go myself..I also decided to take a risk and try a recipe that looks a little bit harder than ones I have done in the past. I decided to have a go at Eric Lanlard’s Red Velvet Cupcakes, and here’s how it went!

75 grams pure cocoa powder
1.50 tsp Nielsen-Massey Pure Vanilla Extract Blend
125 grams Butter unsalted, softened
250 grams Billington’s Golden Caster Sugar
4  Happy Eggs Yolks
240 ml Buttermilk
1 tsp Salt
325 grams Allinson Nature Friendly Plain White Flour sifted
1 tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda
1 tsp White Wine Vinegar

Additional Ingredients
240ml milk
3 tbsp Allinson Nature Friendly Plain White Flour
1 pinch Salt
225 grams of white chocolate, broken into pieces
200 grams Butter unsalted, softened
300 grams Silver Spoon Homegrown Icing Sugar

First, preheat the oven to 180.C and line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers. (Note this makes 24 cupcakes, not your usual 12!)

Sift the cocoa and mix with the vanilla in a small bowl and set aside. Then beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. After spraying golden gaster sugar across the kitchen I realised my butter was not soft enough to be using with a hand mixer. Also, my hand mixer on low speed is far too fast! I think I need a new one…

Once the butter and sugar mixture is pale, light and fluffy, add the egg yolks, one at a time, and beat until everything is combined. I almost put the egg whites in as well but caught myself at the last minute, phew! Then  add the cocoa mixture and beat well for another minute to combine.

You will end up with a chocolatey, sticky, gooey mess, like this.

Stir the buttermilk and salt together and add it to the butter and sugar mixture, a third at a time, alternating with the flour. The mixture starts to get really thick and gooey at this point, my poor hand mixer almost couldn’t take it.

Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the vinegar and blend into the batter. The reaction of these two ingredients is what gives the cake its rich colour. Eric does this instead of adding the usual red food colouring.

With your mixer on high, beat everything together on a high speed for about 5 minutes, until you have a smooth, glossy batter.

Fill each cupcake case to three-quarters full. Bake for 18–20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cupcake centre comes out clean.

Cool in the tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove the cakes and cool completely before frosting.

The Frosting

I decided to do white chocolate icing for my cupcakes, however in Eric’s recipe it gives you the option of doing either white choc or

milk choc.

First, melt the white chocolate and set aside to cool.

Then in a small saucepan whisk the milk, flour and salt over a medium heat until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble, about 1–2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and allow to cool.

Then beat the butter and icing sugar  together until fluffy. Add to the cooled chocolate followed by the milk mixture. Beat together until smooth, then spoon into a piping bag with a small plain or star tube and pipe immediately on to the cupcakes. I didn’t have any piping bags, and I don’t really have the patience for piping so instead I just spooned some of the mixture on to the cakes and sprinkles them with Silver Spoon Create Pink and Blue Shimmer Balls.

And there we have it, my Red Velvet Cupcakes all ready to be eaten. Now I just need to find a Valentine to give them to….

Categories: Eric Lanlard, Recipes & Baking, Uncategorized | No Comments »