Red Velvet Cupcakes Recipe

2015-10-07T08:42:00.004-07:00

Red velvet cake is a cake with either a dark red, bright red or red-brown color. It is traditionally prepared as a layer cake topped with cream cheese or cooked roux icing.

The main cake ingredients are flour, butter, buttercream, and sugar. The red color comes from either beets or food coloring.These ingredients combine to create a red velvet cake.

James Beard's reference, American Cookery (1972), describes three red velvet cakes varying in the amounts of shortening, butter, and vegetable oil. All used red food coloring, but the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to better reveal the red anthocyanin in cocoa and keeps the cake moist, light, and fluffy. This natural tinting may have been the source for the name "red velvet", as well as "Devil's food" and similar names for chocolate cakes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red velvet cupcakes recipe:

Ingredients:

350g (2 1/3 cups) plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
250ml (1 cup) buttermilk
315g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
2 eggs
185ml (3/4 cup) vegetable oil
3 teaspoons red food colouring
2 teaspoons white vinegar
Dollar Sweets Fairy Fives sprinkles, to decorate frosting
100g butter, at room temperature
250g pkt cream cheese, at room temperature
195g (1 1/4 cups) pure icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method, Step by Step:

Step 1
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line eighteen 80ml (1/3-cup) capacity muffin pans with paper cases. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar.

Step 2
Whisk the buttermilk, oil, eggs, food colouring and vinegar in a jug until combined. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Add the buttermilk mixture and stir until just combined.

Step 3
Divide the mixture among the prepared pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

Step 4
To make the cream cheese frosting, use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl until smooth.

Step 5
Pipe the icing over the cupcakes and top with the sprinkles.

In recent years, red velvet cake and red velvet cupcakes have become increasingly popular in the US and many European countries. A resurgence in the popularity of this cake is attributed by some to the film Steel Magnolias (1989), which included a red velvet groom's cake made in the shape of an armadillo. Magnolia Bakery in Manhattan, having served it since its opening in 1996, certainly helped to popularize the cake, as did restaurants known for their Southern cooking like Amy Ruth's in Harlem,[3] which opened in 1998. In 2000, Cake Man Raven opened one of the first bakeries devoted to the cake in Brooklyn.

Food To Fight Wrinkles And Ageing

2015-10-07T00:18:00.003-07:00

Ageing, dark spots, wrinkles, and fine lines... these are the last things that a person would like to see on his or her skin.

No wonder, both men and women are willing to shell out a lumpsum to look good and are going all natural in the process. According to experts, the secret lies in the plate and that's precisely why what you eat matters the most.

Food experts recommend people to opt for natural products to maintain a youthful look in a healthy way. And when it comes to these natural products, there are umpteen varieties to choose from.

We give you a list of products that one could choose from to delay the ageing process and to maintain that youthful look.

Food Fight Wrinkles

Leafy greens: Like eggs, leafy greens such as spinach, kale, turnip greens, and romaine lettuce, are great sources of lutein and zeaxanthin. Studies have shown eating foods rich in these antioxidants can significantly reduce risk of AMD (age-related macular degeneration), as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Spinach has a very high ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) score. It is a measurement of a food's ability to destroy the free radicals that cause damage in your body. The higher the ORAC score, the better a food is for you.

Blueberries: These tiny berries are powerhouses of nutrition. They are loaded with antioxidants, which stops premature ageing and help prevent cancer. Wild blueberries also boost your health. A study suggests that anthocyanins in blueberries appear to combat oxidative stress, which is one of the main causes of ageing.

Yellow and orange root vegetables: Put plenty of beta-carotene on your plate. These super-antioxidants are good for your skin and eyes. Good choices include carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and squash.

Broccoli: Quercetin is a powerful antioxidant that is found in broccoli, along with other foods including cranberries, onions, and apples. It is a natural anti-inflammatory agent as well, fighting the number two cause of aging. Broccoli sprouts have 30 times more isothiocyanates (yet another antioxidant) than regular broccoli.

Raw, organic eggs: A single egg contains, nine essential amino acids. It's rich in proteins and has naturally occurring Vitamin D. Consuming your eggs raw is the best thing to do as cooking destroys some of the highly perishable nutrients.

Aloe vera: Aloe vera's anti-ageing properties have been known for ages. Scientific evidence suggests that Aloe Vera juice can heal skin and reverse skin ageing. Skin ages because of UV light damage and loss of collagen in the skin. Collagen helps in keeping the skin firm and elastic. Ageing breaks down the collagen matrix in your skin which leads to wrinkles. Drinking aloe vera juice is known to reduce the wrinkle depth and improve skin elasticity due to increased collagen production.

Garlic: Allium is an antioxidant that packs a punch. Garlic, onions, and scallions are loaded with this free-radical fighter that is good for your skin and your immune system.

Food Catalog

Red Velvet Cupcakes Recipe

Food To Fight Wrinkles And Ageing