red velvet cupcakes

Red velvet cake – the signature dish of the Waldorf Astoria in New York in the 1920s – is coloured red to give it its distinctive look. Not quite a vanilla cake, not quite a chocolate cake, but most definitely delicious and a firm favourite with many people. Topped with a swirl of cream cheese frosting, these cupcakes are just impossible to resist!

• 115 g/1 stick butter
• 115 g/½ cup plus 1 tablespoon caster/ granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 85 g gluten-free self-raising flour plus 1 teaspoon baking powder OR
• ¾ cup gluten-free all-purpose baking flour plus 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1⁄8 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 60 g/½ cup ground almonds
• 50 g/2 oz. dark chocolate, melted
• 150 ml/⅔ cup buttermilk
• red food colouring

For the frosting

• 240 g/1¾ cups icing/ confectioners’ sugar
• 60 g/½ stick butter, softened
• 70 g/⅓ cup cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon buttermilk
• gluten-free cocoa powder, for dusting

a 12-hole cupcake tin/pan, lined with paper cases

a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle/tip

Makes 12 cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F) Gas 4.

Put the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until light and creamy. Add the eggs and whisk again. Fold in the flour, baking powder, ground almonds, melted chocolate and buttermilk using a spatula or large spoon. Beat in some red food colouring, a drop at a time, until the batter is a dark, reddish brown. Divide the cake batter between the paper cases. Bake in the preheated oven for 15–20 minutes, until the cakes are firm to the touch and a knife inserted into the middle of a cake comes out clean.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To make the frosting, sift the icing/confectioners’ sugar into a mixing bowl and add the butter, cream cheese and buttermilk. Beat together until you have a thick frosting. Spoon the frosting into the piping bag and pipe a large swirl on top of each cooled cake. Dust with a little sifted cocoa powder to decorate.

These cupcakes are best eaten on the day they are made.