The Hummingbird Bakery Red Velvet Cupcakes

I have mixed feelings about St. Valentine's Day. If done right it can be a sweet love celebration, a ray of sunshine when life is cold and grey and spring a distant hope. On the other hand, it has always seemed an unfair and prejudiced celebration, catering as it does only to couples. I know some amazing folk who through no fault of their own haven't met the person they want to be with yet. Why should they miss out on the fun of the day just because they're single? Taken from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook, these cupcakes are for everyone, whether in love or not, a heavenly recipe to bring us all a little idle joy. Just halve or quarter the quantities if you're planning these as a solitary pleasure.

Recipe

Makes 12 medium sized cupcakes

Adapted from the lovely recipe by the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. Buy the book on Amazon here. Or you can see the recipe online at www.goodtoknow.co.uk here

for the base:

150g golden caster sugar

60g unsalted butter, room temperature

1 free range egg, room temperature

10g cocoa powder

red colour tint, or 20ml red food colouring liquid

half a teaspoon vanilla extract

120ml buttermilk (or 60ml milk & 60ml runny natural yoghurt)

150g plain flour

half a teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

half a teaspoon salt

1 and a half teaspoons white wine vinegar

1. Turn the oven to 170C (150C fan ovens) and place medium sized cupcake papers in a 12 cupcake baking tin.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar for at least 3 minutes until fluffy.

3. Add the egg, and beat well until combined and smooth. 

4. Meanwhile in a second, smaller, bowl, stir the cocoa powder, red colouring and vanilla extract together.

5. Mix these 3 ingredients into the batter. It will turn a bright red, which will come out darker once baked.

6. If you can't find any buttermilk in the shops, you can make your own as I did by mixing the milk and natural yoghurt, which works just as well.

When it's ready to use, add half the buttermilk or milk and yoghurt combination to the batter, before throwing in half the flour and mixing thoroughly.

7. Next add the rest of the buttermilk and the rest of the flour, beating again until smooth.

8. Carefully stir in the salt, bicarb of soda and vinegar, and then beat the mixture on a high speed for a few more minutes.

9. Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases, filling until three quarters full.

10. Bake in the oven for 20- 25 minutes. You'll know the cakes are done when the tops bounce back under your finger and a skewer comes out clean.

11. Transfer the cupcakes in their cases to a wire rack or plate and leave to cool completely.

for the cream cheese icing:

50g unsalted butter, room temperature

300g icing sugar

1 drop vanilla extract

125g cream cheese, cold

12. To make the icing, beat the icing sugar and butter together thoroughly.

13. Next add the cream cheese, and continue to mix well.

14. Add the drop of vanilla extract, then beat the icing hard for 5 minutes until fluffy and ready to pipe.

15. To pipe the icing, get a pint glass. Place a piping bag with a nozzle inside the glass, so that the nozzle is on the bottom of the glass. Fold the piping bag edges over the glass rim. Spoon the paste into the piping bag, then carefully take the bag out of the glass and twist the end of the bag so that the icing is well contained.

16. Pipe the icing over the cupcakes and add any sprinkles or sugar flowers you fancy to decorate. To pipe a rose, you start piping in the middle of the cupcake and work outwards. To pipe a classic swirl, you start piping at the outer edge of the cupcake and work inwards.

These cupcakes were idly baked while listening to Jarvis Cocker interview Leonard Cohen on BBC Radio 6 Music.

Gluten Free Marshmallow and Almond Cupcakes

I'm having a bit of a raspberry and almond moment, I just can't get enough of the combination. There's something about the sharp sweet-sour berry flavour that balances a buttery almond cake so brilliantly. And not only do raspberries look beautiful but they're full of vitamin C!  Here I've used them simply as decoration to add glamour and a touch of zing to some very tasty marshmallow and almond cupcakes.

These make a great choice of cupcake for those among us who are gluten intolerant as both the flour and the marshmallows are gluten free (note that most marshmallows contain cornflour, and it's worth checking out the ingredients on the packet if you're unsure whether you can eat them).

Recipe:
Makes 12 large cupcakes
Adapted from tootsievalentine's lovely post at: http://www.nigella.com/
Where the above recipe calls for vanilla notes, and simple pink writing icing with raspberry, I've chosen to make mine a little more grown up by using almond flavouring, and a naughty cream cheese icing, extra marshmallows nestling with the raspberries on top.

175g caster sugar
175g butter
350g gluten-free self-raising flour, I use Doves Farm gluten and wheat free (or you can use normal self-raising flour if you're not gluten intolerant)
3 tbsps milk
Approx 24 small marshmallows, or 12 large ones
1 tsp almond extract (or vanilla)

1. Fill a 12 hole muffin tray with large cupcake cases and turn oven to 180C (160 for fan ovens).

2. In a large bowl, mix the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well.

4. Next add the flour, then the milk and the almond extract. Stir until well combined.

5. Pour enough batter into the cupcake cases that they are half full. Then add 1 large or 2 small marshmallows to the middle of the case, before covering it with more batter so that the case ends up three quarters full.

6. Bake in the oven for approx 20 minutes until golden and springy to touch.

7. Leave to cool on a wire rack.


Icing ingredients:
Approx 40 small marshmallows or 12 large ones
110g Cream Cheese (Philadelphia works well)
1 tsp almond extract
400g icing sugar
110g unsalted butter
Pink food colouring
12 raspberries

1. Once the cupcakes are cool, beat the cream cheese and butter together, then add the almond extract and the pink food colouring (if using colour paste just a dot of it should be enough).

2. Gradually stir in the icing sugar, mixing well until the mixture is a thick paste.

3. Get a pint glass and place a piping bag with a nozzle inside the glass, so that the nozzle is on the bottom of the glass. Fold the piping bag edges over the glass rim. Spoon the paste into the piping bag, then carefully take the bag out of the glass and twist the end of the bag so that the icing is well contained.

4. Pipe the icing over the cupcakes and add some marshmallows and raspberries to finish.


These cupcakes were idly baked to the sounds of Johnny Cash's album American IV: The Man Comes Around