Red Velvet Cupcakes Recipe

"Cupcakes don't need to be pretty. They compensate by having a good sense of humour." 

-Max Black, 2 Broke Girls 

I love that show and that may be the reason I decided to make cupcakes. I've been wanting to try Red Velvet Cupcakes for a long time and I found many recipes. But the easiest I could find was Laura's and I had all the ingredients at home. 

As you can tell from the pictures, the cupcakes aren't pretty and looks a little distorted which explains the quoted words from my favourite character from 2 Broke Girls. I have learnt my lesson and shall use the muffin tins from now onwards no matter how lazy I am to wash them after use. Big sigh.

I have stated the recipe is stated below.

Ingredients

1 ¼ cup of all Purpose Flour

2 Tbsp of Cocoa Powder

½ tsp of Baking Powder

½ tsp of Baking Soda

¼ tsp of Salt

¼ cup / 60g of Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature

¾ cup of Granulated sugar

¾ cup of Buttermilk

1 Egg

1 tsp of Vanilla Extract

Red food Coloring

For the frosting

2 Cups of Powdered Sugar (I used 1/4 cup less but it was still too sweet) 

4 oz /  113g of Cream Cheese, softened at room temperature

2 Tbsp / 30g of Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature

1 Tbsp of Milk

1 tsp of Vanilla Extract

Process

1) Preheat your oven to 180 degree Celsius. Line a muffin pan with cup cake liners and set aside.

2) In a small bowl mix together the first 5 ingredients and set aside.In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the sugar and butter, add the egg and vanilla and mix until well combined and creamy.

3) With the mixer running on low, add half of the dry ingredients and half of the buttermilk, make sure its combined and add the remaining dry ingredients and buttermilk making sure to combine everything together but not over mixing.Using a spatula mix the batter from the bottom to make sure nothing is left stuck to the side of the bowl, add enough food coloring to get the desired red color for your cupcakes.

4) Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop the batter evenly in your prepared pan and bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until when you insert a toothpick in the center it comes out clean.Let the cupcakes cool completely.

5) To make the frosting simply put all the frosting ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer and mix until well combined and it has the consistency of a thick frosting.Frost the cupcakes either with a little spatula or using a disposable piping bag fitted with a plain large tip.

6) Let cool in the fridge for about 10 to 15 minutes to set a little before serving (if you can resist them anyway)

I have a sweet tooth and yet I found the frosting too sweet that I couldn't really taste the cream cheese. So, maybe you might want to cut down on the icing sugar according to your taste and preference. Overall, this is a really good and easy recipe once again by Laura, so try making them yourself!

Enjoy!

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Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe

Yes! Today I am going to share this Vanilla Cupcake recipe because it is one of the most basic cupcake recipe and it taste good with almost anything. I was really bored and I was so tired of seating on my bum and doing nothing (and some household chores). If you had read my blog post on about the fudge brownies I had mentioned how much I loved the recipes from this amazing lady Laura and this is where I got my recipe from.

INGREDIENTS

1 Cup Granulated Sugar

1 Stick / 113g Un-Salted Butter, softened

2 Eggs

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/8 tsp Salt

1 1/3 Cups All Purpose Flour
(I used cake flour for a more moist cupcake)

1/3 Cup Whole Milk

FROSTING

1 Stick/ 113g of Unsalted Butter, softened

½ cup Raspberry Preserves

½ tsp Vanilla Extract

1 1/6oz/ 33g Box of Powdered Sugar

Fresh Raspberries, for garnishing

PROCESS

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line your cupcake tin with liners and set aside.

2) In a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the eggs and vanilla and cream together until you get a smooth mixture. Add the dry ingredients and with the speed on low mix together and slowly add the milk and just mix everything to combine. DO NOTOVERMIX! Make sure you give everything a good stir with a spatula from the bottom to incorporate any bit that wasn’t mixed.

3) Scoop the batter into your lined cupcake tin, make sure its only filled ¾ of the way up because they will rise. Bake for 20 minutes and let cool for about 45 minutes before frosting.

4) To make the frosting combine together all the frosting ingredients except the fresh raspberries and mix together to combine. Add the frosting in a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Top with a few fresh raspberries and dive in!

I did not do the frosting, but instead I spread some Nutella and topped it with some almonds and it was so good.

If have not seen any of her videos, check her website out now: http://www.laurainthekitchen.com/

If you love food, cooking, baking, you won't regret following her.

PS: On a side note, I finally managed to enlarge the video size. It looked really ugly because it was one small rectangle in the middle of my blog post like it was some weird advertisements. hahaha

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Pancakes Recipe

Hello Guys!

Lately, I've not been so busy with work and tuition because most schools just ended their exams and are about to go on 1 month holiday! Which means, I am sitting at home and trying my best not to get fat. As much as I am proud of myself restraining from the super good food, I always remember to treat myself with something nice. Besides, I have taken a liking to baking/cooking and love how it turns out on camera. I should put it more effort into the photography because I just indulge once I snap with my iPhone. 

Anyway, today I wanted to show you a pancake recipe. My family members and I have tried a few recipes and I finally found the pancakes that I really love. (FAT AND FLUFFY). Enough of all the talking, I found this recipe on YouTube months back and it is the best recipe I have found so far. It's really easy to make so don't waste your money buying the ready-mix one.

  

INGREDIENTS

3 Eggs

600 ml Milk

450g Self Raising Flour

170g Sugar

3 tsp Baking Powder 

PROCESS 

1. Break the eggs in a large bowl and pour the milk into the eggs. Whisk them together.

2. Add the dry ingredients (Flour, Sugar and Baking powder) and whisk them together.

3. Leave the batter to rise for about an hour. Then use a large spoon and beat the batter to a thick dropping consistency. If think that it is too thick you can add a splash of milk.

*my batter did not rise up like how it was shown on the video but it still turned out great!

4. Heat a large frying pan or griddle on a medium heat. Wrap a piece of butter on a paper towel and grease the pan.

5. Turn the heat up and use the spoon to dollop the  batter onto the pan. Leave the pancakes to cook until bubbles appear and the edges look dull. Then flip them. Leave them to cook on the other side for about 2-3 minutes.

6. Serve them with your favourite topping! Or you can even eat it on its own.

The recipe said that you can get about 20 pancakes but I got about 30 probably because it was smaller in size. I topped it with Peanut Butter Chocolate Sauce, Maple Syrup and some almonds.

You can substitute self-raising flour with plain flour but it won't be as fat as you can see from the picture above but it will still tastes great. You can even freeze it and just heat it up whenever you feel like having them because I know it can be chore to make pancakes every time you crave them. Have fun and enjoy some pancakes! 

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Fudge Brownies Recipe

Hello everyone!

If you read my previous post, I had mentioned in the end that I baked some fudge brownies as the photo shown above. If could say so myself I think it is one of my best pictures taken using my iPhone. This was my second attempt of baking fudge brownies. I admit the first time it was a big failure because (a) I didn't know how to use the 10 year old convection oven in my house (b) I burnt the chocolate with the butter in the pan. This is time it was really good and my family members loved it. Second time's a charm, they say and how true. (I passed my driving on the second attempt as well *winks*) 

Anyway I wanted to share this wonderful recipe that I found on YouTube. I would like to share this amazing YouTube channel "Laura in the Kitchen". If you guys are on YouTube and have an account check her out now. She has amazing recipes and I absolutely love her videos. So far I have tried her brownies and hashbrowns and it turned out so so so good. Plus most of her recipes are easy to make and ingredients can be found or even be substituted easily. So below I have embedded the video and it makes the process so much easier to follow (trust me!). Her measurements are in US measurements and I have converted some of them. 

Ingredients

5 ounces / 150g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

7 ounces / 200g Bittersweet Chocolate, melted

1 cup of Sugar

2 tsp of Vanilla Extract

1/4 tsp of Salt

1 tbsp Cocoa Powder

2 Large Eggs

2 tbsp of Warm Water

1 tsp of Instant Expresso Powder

2/3 Cup of All Purpose Flour (Plain Flour)

Process

1) Preheat oven to 350F / 180C. Spray an 8 by 8 inch square pan with non stick cooking spray and lay the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.

2) In a small cup mix together the warm water with the instant espresso powder, set aside.

3) In a large bowl whisk together the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla extract and espresso mixture. Beat until all is combined.

4) Add the melted chocolate and whisk, add the dry ingredients and mix everything together until it’s incorporated but don’t over mix.

5) Pour batter into your prepared pan and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes (if you are using the convectional oven like I am it should be in 25-30 minutes) or until when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with moist crumbs but not wet batter.

6) Cool for about 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Cut into bars and serve!

Check her website out too: http://www.laurainthekitchen.com/

If you love food, cooking, baking, you won't regret following her.

By the way, this is my first recipe post so I hope you all will like it! Cheers and have a great night!

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