Red Velvet Cupcakes

My physio suggested I make Red Velvet Cupcake for my friend's daughters birthday party. My repertoire for cupcakes always only consisted of chocolate, orange, chocolate chip or vanila cupcakes.  To be honest well, everyone has eaten all those cupcakes and well it's not interesting anymore.

So, this time around I decided to give myself a stretch and try to make Red Velvet cupcakes. They are red, and when combined with cream cheese icing and sprinkled with colorful sprinkles will make any little girls hungry for more.

Red velvet cupcakes, so why are they so special, where did their name come from and what makes them velvety smooth. I found out that they are similar to any cupcakes, they contain flour, sugar, vanilla essence and some chocolate powder. The special ingredients in them is that they contain a touch of distilled vinegar combined with baking soda. So, the recipe suggested to actually add the distilled vinegar with the baking soda and wait for the mixture to become bubbly and then quickly stir it into the cake mixture. Maybe, that is what makes it velvety smooth.

The cake is also bright red which can be created using red food coloring or if you prefer a more natural ingredient, beet juice.

This cupcake is perfect for Valentines Day for your sweetheart, Christmas Day or any little girls party.

The cakes taste fantastic, moist and just so pretty to look and great to eat.

I hope you will enjoy the photos of the cupcakes I made. I definitely look forward to making them again.

Abbie's 10 year old birthday

My friend's daughter recently celebrated her milestone double digit birthday. She turns 10 years old. I was honored to be asked to make her birthday cake. Creating the cake was super exciting for me and my kids. We got together and put various ideas together on what we were going to make. A child's birthday cake is super special. Every bit of it from the design, colour, flavour has to be spot on.

My son suggested that the cake had to be chocolate as girls love chocolate cakes. He also said that well, girls this age do not like cute stuff like Barbie doll cakes or any animal cakes. So, teddy bears, rabbits were out of the question.

My daughter came out with all the girly girl ideas. So, in came the love hearts, present with bow cake and basically anything pink and sparkly.

In the end we decided to make Abbie a swimming pool cake since her birthday was to be held at the Wave Pool in Mt Albert. Abbie provided some of her favourite toy animals which will be attending the "party at the pool".

So, the creation begins.

The cake was a chocolate sponge cake layered with buttercream and surrounding it was chocolate sponge fingers. I am sure after all the chocolate, the girls will be hyped up enough for their swim at the Wave Pool.

I hope Abbie loved her cake as much as I loved making it.

Happy 10th birthday Abbie!!!