Red Velvet Cupcake

Preheat oven to 170°C (340°F) or 145°C (295°F) if using a fan oven.

Line a cupcake pan with paper liners. I generally use a 12 cupcake pan that makes large-ish cupcakes (We're a large family - no, not too many of us, we're just larger😜) Since it is easy to end up with excess batter, I keep a couple of silicon cupcake moulds handy to pop into the oven to deal with the excess. Trust me, I have never had trouble finishing the extra cupcakes! These proportions should yield around 16 medium-sized cupcakes.

Sift the flour with salt, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa. The cocoa colour in the mixture will tell you how well the ingredients have blended. Use a dry wire whisk until the mixture is a uniform colour.

Blend the buttermilk, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, vinegar, oil and food colouring until combined.
Fun fact - Centuries ago, the acidic buttermilk and vinegar would react with the pre-Dutch process cocoa to create the reddish colour that gave these cakes their name. However, since this is not viable anymore, we have to use food colouring instead.

Add the flour mixture one cup at a time, mix until completely incorporated. Don't take too long in an attempt to get it perfectly homogeneous, you don't want the acid-base reaction (baking powder + baking soda vs. buttermilk + vinegar) to die down before baking or you will end up with an unnecessarily dense cupcake.

Pour the batter into the cupcake liners until about 2/3 full. Resist the temptation to fill it to the top - cupcakes don't look too good when the batter bubbles over... Bake for about 15-20 mins. Turn the pan around at around the 10 min mark. A toothpick or small knife inserted into the cupcake should come out with very few crumbs, and no batter.

Take them out and cool the cupcakes in their liners on a wire rack until they get to room temperature. While they are cooling, head over and prepare the cream cheese frosting.

The slightly salty and spectacularly textured cream cheese frosting is literally the crown jewel of this cupcake. Remember to soften the butter by keeping it out of the refrigerator for 30 minutes before use.

Use a stand mixer to thoroughly blend the butter, cheese and sugar for about 5 mins. Resist the temptation to taste it now, because you will want to eat it all right away, cupcake or no cupcake!