Oh Canada Cupcakes

These cupcakes were finished just in time to see the Canadian women’s hockey team take home the GOLD!   GO CANADA!

The recipe for these yummy red velvet cupcakes came from the More from Magnolia Bakery cookbook.  The original recipe was for a layer cake and it made A TON of cupcakes (3.5 dozen!)  The cupcakes are topped with a cream cheese frosting and a red maple leaf.  I adore them.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

• 3  1/3 cups cake flour (I used all purpose flour and just sifted it a few times)
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
• 2  1/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs at room temp.
• 6 tbsp red food colouring (I used red paste food colouring measured into 6 tbsp of water)
• 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1  1/2 tsp salt
• 1  1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1  1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1  1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy (or about 5 minutes)  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Scrape down the sides of the bowl often.

In another bowl, combine the food colouring, cocoa and vanilla.  Add it to the batter and mix well/

Stir the salt into the buttermilk and add it to the batter alternating with the flour.  Beat after each addition until all of the ingredients are incorporated and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula. 

In a small bowl, mix the apple cider vinegar with the baking soda and mix it into the batter until combined. 

Scoop batter into lined muffin cups about 1/2 full.

Bake for roughly 20 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.

Let cool completely before frosting. 

frosting

• 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 cups powdered sugar

Beat butter and cream cheese until smooth.  Add the vanilla followed by the powdered sugar (1 cup at a time) and beat until light and fluffy. 

 Pipe onto cupcakes using a large star tip.

To create the maple leaves, I melted red wilton candy melts in a ziplock freezer bag for about 40 seconds in the microwave and snipped the corner of the bag with scissors creating a piping bag.   I printed some maple leaves to outline and placed the paper under some parchment so I had a pattern to follow.  Pipe the melted chocolate in the desired pattern and let harden.

If a pair of these nice red Canadian Olympic mittens catch your eye you should definitely head over and see Debbie In Nana’s Kitchen because she’s GIVING SOME AWAY! 

GO CANADA!