#30 Pink Velvet Raspberry Cupcakes

Now that's Christmas is over its time to move away from the red and green! Plus I didn't have any red food coloring so that's how I ended up with pink. When I was picturing these in my head I was thinking of a soft pink/rose color, but I ended up with a mauve-not quite pink but definitely not red. It's like a little hint of Valentine's Day.

This is our first Wednesday off together. I started working 4 tens. Nothing like making cupcakes to bring you closer together!!

Pink Velvet Cupcakes
If your not feeling the pink any other color should work too. I was thinking purple or blue would look cool.

The Goods
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter room temp
2 eggs room temp
1 cup buttermilk room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla
1teaspoon white vinegar
2oz liquid food coloring (I used about 1/2 tablespoon of the gel type. You could use less or more depends on the color you want to achieve.)

The How To
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In a smaller bowl, mix together food coloring and cocoa powder. If your using the liquid type mix until lumps are gone- it should resemble a thin paste.

Looks slightly pink right? Well it did in person

In the large bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3mins.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and cocoa paste.

Giving you a little egg action here

I bet you didn't think it would be that pink.

Add one third of the flour mixture to the pink mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of the flour mixture, then the other half of the buttermilk. Mix in the last of the flour mixture and beat until well combined.



Looks a little lighter than the picture above.



In another small bowl, mix the vinegar and baking soda. It's going to look a little like a science project because when you add the baking soda to the vinegar it fizzes up so don't use a shallow bowl.

Not sure what's the point of the vinegar and baking soda. Didn't seem like it did anything special.

Add the vinegar mixture to the batter and stir well to combine. Fill cupcakes tins about 3/4 full.

Bake for 18-20mins, rotating halfway through.

Pink... Red.. Who cares!!!

Cool the cupcakes in their tins on a wire rack for 10mins then remove and allow to cool completely before filling and frosting.

Raspberry Filling
If you have time, make this the night before so the filling has time to setup and get firm. If your lazy just use some jam or preserves. I noticed this recipe didn't quite fill 24 cupcakes so you might want to double it.

The Goods
2 10oz bag frozen raspberries, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch

These are some of the best frozen raspberries I've ever had. They taste like they were freshly picked. Definitely worth the extra money!

The How To
Using the food processor, puree the thawed raspberries.

Press the puree through a fine strainer to remove the seeds.

At this point you might be thinking that you should have went with  the jam..

Pour the puree into a medium saucepan and combine with the sugar and cornstarch.

Bring to a boil and stir until thickened. Let cool completely. I noticed with mine that it didn't get as thick as I had wanted so I reboiled it with some flavorless gelatin and let it re-cool that it did firm up some.

Once the filling is cooled go ahead and fill the cupcakes up.

A little messy but totally worth it.

Now for the best part...

White Chocolate Buttercream
There is no going wrong with this stuff! Oh this is another recipe you might want to double. For me I had enough to do a dozen.

The Goods
1 cup butter room temp.
2 cups powdered sugar
6oz white chocolate melted & cooled
3-5 tablespoons whipping cream

The How To
Melt the chocolate in either the microwave or double boiler style. Let cool completely.

I choose to melt it with a double boiler

While that is cooling beat the butter and sugar at low speed until fluffy.

Add melted/cooled chocolate and 3 tablespoons of whipping cream. Depending on how thick you want your frosting, you might add more whipping cream. I found 3 tablespoons was perfect. Beat on high for 3-4mins.

Look at the shinny finish, this is probley one of the prettiest butter creams I've made.

Now time to frost them up!

Had some left over melting chocolate so I made up some hearts too.



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Black Forest Cupcakes