Red velvet cupcakes with strawberry SMBC!

Red velvet cupcakes with strawberry SMBC (photo by Surya)

I love red velvet cupcakes, and I love Swiss meringue buttercream (SMBC). I think SMBC is the most sensible icing you can get for tropical weather. Of course red velvet cupcakes is best paired with cream cheese frosting, but I've tried that before, and it didn't work. Either I just couldn't find the right cream cheese for that purpose here, or Bali weather is too hot for cream cheese frosting (unless I make in inside an aircon-ed room). I might be able to use cream cheese Swiss meringue buttercream, but I just didn't want to gamble with the cream cheese found here (no offense to my own island). Hence, this time I paired red velvet cupcakes with strawberry SMBC. It tastes gorgeous and looks gorgeous as well! 

The red velvet cupcakes recipe is from the cute Laura Vitale, and the SMBC is from Martha Stewart, which I have written here (note: I didn't have enough butter for 5 cups of SMBC, so I used only about 370 grams or about 3 sticks of butter instead of 450 grams of butter. It still worked fine tho!). For the strawberry SMBC, after adding the butter, just add the pureed strawberries (original recipe calls for 8 ounces of strawberries). Keep beating on LOW speed until the desired piping consistency is achieved. If it get curdled, put the mixture on top of shimmering water and mix it again on low speed. 

Below is the red velvet cupcake recipe from Laura Vitale, with the original cream cheese frosting. The recipe yielded 15 cupcakes for me.

The red velvet cupcakes, once it's ready (photo by Surya)

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 of Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature (60 grams)
¾ cup of Granulated sugar
¾ cup of Buttermilk (to make 1 cup of buttermilk, mix 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar and leave it for 5 minutes)
1 Egg
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
Red food Coloring (I used Hullabaloo red natural food colouring)

For the frosting,

2 Cups of Powdered Sugar
4 oz of Cream Cheese (114 grams, 8 tablespoons), softened at room temperature
2 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature
1 Tbsp of Milk
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract

Process:

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (180 Celcius). 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)


Enjoy your baking!