Mom could you bake a Red velvet cakes was dear sons request last week.Actually he’s been after me to bake one for quite some time.I’ve been trying hard to stay off the sugar fix but the sweet tooth was victorious again.

Mmmm Strawberries…delicious just as they are on warm summer days.I’m reminded of our berry picking visits while we lived in Toronto the past seven years.Warm summer afternoons spent at these strawberry farms.Walking through expansive fields of strawberries…looking for the brightest and the ripest ones to pick.Now I have seen some fields that seem to grow strawberries on our road trips to Fujairah and Oman.Though not sure if they would welcome strawberry pickers.So ofcourse settled for some store-bought ones.

So  got down to browsing some recipes for Red Velvet cakes.There were so many versions and all looked great.However they all used Red food colouring which I’m not too fond of.I wanted to skip using the food colouring all together,when my son butted in and said”That batter hardly looks red” I’ve just added a dash and have substituted by using some pureed strawberries instead.

Had decided to bakes these cupcakes rather than the cake…

Well the results were these mouth-watering and moist as ever cupcakes.

Quite happy with the results.The strawberries  give these cupcakes a lovely colour and add to the moisture as well.Quite surprised at the use of cocoa in this recepie.Now the original cake one calls for the use of vinegar which I’ve omitted.

I’ve used a Philadelphia cream cheese for the frosting.You may use regular butter cream one if you like.Another interesting thought that came to my mind later on was to perhaps cut the cupcake at the top and put in some of the frosting….true Red Velvet Style…but these looked pretty delectable with the frosting and topped with some fresh strawberries as well.

I have adapted this from My recepies.com with the strawberry puree as a substitute for the food colouring…I hope you will give these a try some time.

Thanks for stopping by…Cheers!!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cup All purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup strawberries(pureed)
• 1/2 teaspoon Red food colouring
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

METHOD:

1. Sift all the dry ingredients together.
2. In a separate bowl whisk the egg.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy.
4. Start by adding the beaten egg,butter mix,buttermilk and lastly the pureed strawberries to the flour.
5. Mix well and add the food colouring and the vanilla extract.
6. Pour into prepared cupcake trays.
7. Bake at 180 C for about 20 minutes.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

• 1 tub(250 gms) Philadelphia light cream cheese
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons soft butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix the above well till well incorporated and frost over cupcakes.