RECIPE: BLUE VELVET CUPCAKES

bright blue batter
darkens down when baked

I lack the ability to keep anything simple.

I recently volunteered to make cupcakes for a baby shower. Our co-worker is expecting a boy so the general consensus was for blue icing.

Being me, I decided to take the opportunity to experiment and tweaked my red velvet cake recipe to make blue cupcakes instead.

There's a misconception that red velvet cake is simply a white cake with red food colouring.

The main ingredients in a red velvet cake are dutch processed cocoa powder, vinegar and buttermilk.

cocoa powder
natural vs. dutch processed

Traditional red velvet cake is reddish brown; not the vibrant red that we all know it by now. Dutch processed cocoa powder is treated with an alkalizing agent which gives it just a hint of red colouring and a smoother, milder flavour compared to natural cocoa powder.

The alkali renders the powder neutral so, unlike natural cocoa powder, dutch processed powder will not activate the leavening agent (the thing that makes the cake rise) in the baking soda which is where the vinegar comes into play.

The very last step in any velvet cake is mixing the baking soda with vinegar and then folding this foaming mixture into the batter. It is important to use fresh baking soda (no more than 30 days old) in this step or you run the risk of falling cake syndrome.

And finally, buttermilk is what gives velvet cake its legendary moist and fine crumb.

making 2 types of cupcakes? extra batter? make an extra cake! 

Most recipes I've seen use food colour which is liquid based. I prefer using icing colouring which is gel based (to avoid making your icing too runny for decorating) for a more vibrant colour. Icing colouring is much more potent than regular food colouring; a little bit goes a long way! To make up for the liquid deficit, I like substituting some sour cream for an incredibly creamy and moist finished product.

I am happy to report: the cupcakes were a smashing success!

What's your go-to for deliciously moist cupcakes?

Yields: A 3 tier 8 inch cake or 24 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

CAKE

Blue velvet cupcakes with white icing
& white mini's with blue icing

• 2 cups sugar 
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3 eggs 
• 1 tablespoon dutch processed cocoa powder 
• 1 tablespoon blue icing colouring 
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 cup buttermilk 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 tablespoon vinegar

BUTTERCREAM ICING

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter softened
• 4 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

DIRECTIONS

CAKE

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2.  Grease and flour 3 (8-inch) round pans or use cupcake liners 
3. In a mixing bowl, cream 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar, mix until light and fluffy
4. Add the eggs 1 at a time and mix well after each addition
5. In a seperate bowl, mix 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon icing colouring and 1 tablespoon sour cream together to make a paste
6. Then add the cocoa powder paste to the creamed sugar mixture; mix well
7. Sift together 2 1/2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt
8. Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with 1 cup buttermilk
9. Blend in 1 teaspoon vanilla
10. In the bowl used to make the cocoa powder paste, combine 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon vinegar to make a foam mixture
11. Then fold the vinegar foam mixture into the batter
12. Pour batter into pans. Bake 15 minutes for cupcakes (25 minutes for cake), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
13. Remove from heat and cool completely before frosting.

BUTTERCREAM ICING

1. Cream together 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter and 4 1/2 cups sugar
2. Mix in 3 tablespoons heavy cream
3. Mix in 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Homemade vs. Store-Bought

Michelle on Facebook makes a valid point on my previous post:

 “…I don’t overly agree with all the processed items she’s suggested (ie. Chicken stock, soy sauce).

It seems that in this day and age, any food discussion, especially here on the West Coast, must also involve health conscious options.

I’m not known for my healthy dietary choices, if anything it’s quite the opposite. I am that girl who hosted the Great Fried Chicken Showdown of 2010 - otherwise known as the day D and I tried answering the age old question: KFC or Church’s?  

Churches won out on texture but we disagreed on taste though they both smelled like heaven 

My husband refers to fried chicken as the “dirty bird” (despite the very official empirical data I provided him on its awesomeness) and refuses to eat it, regardless of the charming mascot on the bucket. I won’t lie, there’s a small bit of resentment on my part, but come bikini season; I am reminded of the evils of fried food. 

I make mention in my last post that there was a time when “I could eat all sorts of glorious fast food with nary a second thought”, but what I failed to make clear was that this time has passed – LONG PASSED.

With an aging body and a slowing metabolism, what choice is there but to question my consumption of the dirty bird? 

Oh, but it sounds like such a glorious idea!

 It’s one thing when you answer to only yourself, but as you become increasingly responsible for the healthy habits of others you are forced to consider the options.

how can you say no to that face?

Even D has now adopted a whole new philosophy on food, opting for the less carnivorous and more organic options to feed her bundle of baby joy. Her husband protests that he married an Eastern European meat-eater; this bait and switch is just cruel! 

On the one hand, I feel as though I've lost my best friend. But, on the other hand, if you go through the trouble of making a little person, you want them to eat healthy so they can grow up big and strong to reach things on the top shelf for you (or the second shelf too if you're me).

Much like matter and anti-matter, I feel that a choice must be made between health, budget, convenience and taste; and never the twain shall meet. 

Healthier choices are often more expensive and less convenient. More convenience usually translates into less healthy. Feeding a family with healthy options on a balanced budget without having to quit your day job is a balancing act!

When given the choice, homemade chicken broth is the bee’s knees (I have no idea what that means, but I hear it’s awesome).  In a pinch though, the store bought stuff is your Hail Mary!

chicken so good, it strikes a pose

Whenever we roast a whole chicken (or bone-in pieces), I freeze the carcass. When I have a pile of otherwise unusable chicken bits saved up, I turn them into a double batch of chicken broth which gets packaged into convenient portions and put back into the freezer for future use. 

But the sad reality is; man cannot live on chicken alone (first world problems)! We just don’t eat enough chicken to keep my freezer supply flush.

What’s a girl to do? 

We choose; and choose wisely, we must! Not all store-bought products are created equal and with the money saved from freezer cooking and chicken scrapping, it’s not unreasonable to splurge on the more expensive, healthier and/or organic options (or a high quality pressure cooker to churn out a batch of broth in a fraction of the time).

Remember your Google-Fu? Use it! We’re not the first to ponder this dilemma!

homemade vs store bought?

I’m a strong believer in moderation. Almost everything we consume is homemade so the preservatives and other tongue twister ingredients are kept to a minimum. The odd bit will inevitably slip in - c'est le vie...sometimes you can have your dirty bird and eat it too!

I may change my tune when we add a small child to the mix but, for now, I am confident that I am feeding my family a healthier diet than average.

Our monthly budget is tracked meticulously and the ingredients that go into our freezer meals are constantly reviewed for cost-efficiency. For now, I am still a full-fat kind of gal, and saving money often wins out over healthier alternatives. Little by little, though, I make healthier adjustments. 

That’s the beauty in freezer cooking; you are the master of the universe in your own kitchen (sans Battle Cat, of course).

My fried chicken showdown days are mostly behind me now, but I'm still quite adept at finding ways to indulge.

What are your guilty pleasures?