Wendy's Kitchen Table

I love this quote from Helen Burns. “Love is a verb. Love is an action. Love moves”. Show your love for that someone special in your life by making these heavenly red velvet cupcakes!

Makes 24 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
1 cup buttermilk
200g unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 tbs white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ tsps Queens Pillar Box Red food colouring
250g pkt cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup pure icing sugar
60g butter, extra, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence, extra

METHOD

Preheat oven to 170°C or 150˚ç fan-forced. Line 2 muffin pans with paper-cases. Sift flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Stir through the sugar. Whisk the buttermilk, melted butter, eggs, vinegar and vanilla in a large jug until combined. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Add the buttermilk mixture. Stir until just combined. Stir in the food colouring.
Divide the mixture among the lined pans. Bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into
the centres comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

[Icing]
Use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, extra butter and extra vanilla until smooth. Spread over cupcakes or ice with a piping bag. Decorate with red sugar and chocolate hearts.

[Colouring Sugar]
To begin, pour 1/4 a cup of sugar into a ziplock bag and add a bit of Pillar Box Red food colouring and seal. Start with a drop or two at the most. A little goes a long way! Use your fingers to knead the colour into the sugar. Continue to add a few more drops of food colouring until you get the desired colour. Spread out on a tray lined with baking paper until the sugar dries. Break up any lumps. Store in an airtight container.

[Chocolate Hearts]
Melt ½ cup of dark/milk chocolate drops in a glad ziplock bag in the microwave on medium heat for 30 seconds. Check. Microwave again. Check. Repeat until chocolate is melted. Draw a heart template with a dark texta on a piece of paper. Tape heart to a flat surface. Place a sheet of baking paper over the top. Snip a tiny corner off the plastic bag. Pipe out outline of heart. Fill in heart with random squiggly lines. Repeat until you have 24 hearts. Set in fridge on a tray.