Guest Blog: Red Velvet Cupcake Swirl

We welcome Maxine from Why I Am Not Skinny to the blog today. She not only has a great blog herself, but found time to make us some cupcakes (YEA!!!). Take a look at her creation and check out Why I Am Not Skinny….

I love the whole concept of *Saved by Cake* by Marian Keyes. It appeals to the baker in me, not only because of all the delicious recipes but also because I do believe that there is a therapeutic healing power in mixing, baking and creating life out of flour & eggs (amongst other ingredients).

Marian Keyes is a well-known international bestseller with many books under her belt (including Angels, Rachels Holiday, Sushi for Beginners…. Etc etc) who suffered a bout of depression (or what she terms as a nervous breakdown) and found her way out of the black hole via a mixing bowl, batter and a fair amount of sprinkles and frosting.

So I recently treated myself to a copy of the book from amazon a few weeks back and have spent my free time, pawing through the pages (and drooling over the pictures) – all the whilst wondering on which recipe I need to try out first.

After reading it cover to cover at least three times, I realised that the only way to start the book was with the combination of chocolate red velvet cake mixture with a cream cheesecake-like swirl running through it.

Red Velvet Cupcake Swirl (Marian Keyes)

110g Butter (7.3 tbls)

170g Caster sugar (11.3 tbls) + 40g (2.6 tbls) caster sugar for cream cheese layer

1 teaspoon vanilla extract + quarter teaspoon vanilla extract for cream cheese layer

40g (2.6 tbls) cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

1 Tablespoon red food colouring

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

3 eggs

160g (10.6 tbls)Self-raising flour

200g (13.3 tbls) cream cheese

• To make cream cheese layer – beat together the cream cheese, egg, 40g caster sugar and ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract – place to one side

• To make red velvet mixture, melt butter and add sugar – beating well

• Add vanilla extract and mix

• Add cocoa powder and mix

• Add salt and mix

• Add food colouring and mix

• Add vinegar and mix

• All this mixing between additions of ingredients will create the magic of the red velvet mixture

• In a separate bowl, beat eggs and add to mixture

• Sieve in flour and fold through

• Divide mixture among 12 paper cases, placing red velvet mixture at the bottom, cream cheese layer in the middle and the remaining red velvet mixture on top

• Use a cocktail stick (or in my case a chopstick) – swirl the batters together (without making them one batter)

• Bake for 25-30min at 180Degree’s celcius (350 F)