Red Velvet Cupcakes with Caramel Sauce

It was a wild night last night, I mean a Saturday night no less. I was watching Cupcake Wars on The Food Network. I know, crazy right? The first challenge was for a red velvet cupcake and I thought, I haven’t done that in a while. And after watching the entire show and seeing those amazing ladies just think up flavour combinations on the fly, I was inspired!

It’s also been a couple days since I baked something, the Rainbow Jello doesn’t count.

I pulled out my red velvet recipe, made a minor change as I didn’t have white vinegar only apple vinegar, and made 24 really light, red little cakes!

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 2 teaspoon cocoa powder
  
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
  
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
  
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
  
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring
  
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar ( I used apple vinegar today)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.


2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.


3. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins. Bake in oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 20mins. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

I also had a craving (so NOT pregnant) for caramel sauce and since I’ve actually never made it before, I thought what the heck. First attempt was a complete flop, so I gave myself another go and if it didn’t work, no caramel. But alas, SUCCESS!!

Caramel Sauce Recipe:

• 1 cup sugar


• 1/2 cup water


• 6 tbsp butter


• 1/2 heavy cream

1. In a heavy bottom 3 or 4qt sauce pan, mix sugar and water. You can do it without the water but it burns very quickly. Whisk continuously until the sugar is dissolved then stop whisking.


2. Bring sugar water to boil and remove from heat when it turns an amber colour.


3. Add the butter and whisk until melted (it will start to bubble a lot).


4. Add cream and continue to whisk.


5. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then move to glass container. The sugar will still be really hot, so be careful!

I filled half the cupcakes with the caramel sauce and left the others plain. Then I added caramel sauce to my buttercream (had some in fridge) and voila a flavour combination created!

So now the big test. Did it go well together? The answer from my husband was a resounding yes! The girls just wanted the plain cupcakes because they haven’t acquired the taste for caramel yet. So sad :)

I am really pleased with how they turned out. I thought the apple vinegar gave the cupcakes a nice addition and the caramel center, in my opinion, is always a nice touch!

Thanks for looking!

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