Tiny Pink Luxuries

 

I wanted to try make Red Velvet Cupcakes last night, but didn’t have any of the main ingredients like buttermilk, vinegar and red food colouring.  For the record, I’ve never even tasted Red Velvet before - will do, though.  I did, however, have all the other things to make cupcakes, plus pink food colouring, some thick cream and chocolate chips.  So here’s my improvised version of what I call, “Tiny Pink Luxuries”.  They’re made like vanilla cupcakes, but with thick cream, and chocolate chips hidden inside, and topped with butter-cream and chocolate rice.  They turned out to be pretty rich, that one tiny cupcake is already luxurious.

Ingredients:
80g butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 cup self-raising flour, sifted (or 1 cup plain flour + 2 teaspoons baking powder)
1/3 cup thick cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 tablespoon pink food colouring
A handful of chocolate chips

Topping:
80 g butter, softenend
1 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Some chocolate rice

Method:
1. Mix butter and sugar using electric mixer, until light and fluffy.
2. Add in egg and mix well.
3. Add in flour, thick cream, vanilla, cocoa powder and pink colouring.  Beat with mixer until well combined.
4. Add in chocolate chips and stir.
5. Fill a small spoonful of batter into mini cupcake papers.
6. Bake at 160 C for 10-15 minutes until cooked.  Then cool on rack before topping.
7. For topping: Beat butter and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Gradually beat in icing sugar until well combined for 1 minute.  Decorate topping on top of cupcakes as you wish and sprinkle with chocolate rice.