Blue Velvet Cuppy Cakes (with an oatsy twist)

in The Vow (2012), Paige & Leo would always agree to disagree on red velvet cake.

 that was so romantic & cute that it got me baking my 1st red velvet cuppycakes. 

if roses are red,

& violets are blue.

there are red cupcakes,

then how can there not be any blue, too?

so here it is...blue velvet cuppycakes with an oatsy twist.

last week, Lynn-san (a good friend of mine) wanted to baked red velvet cupcakes.
so we did, & it was a recipe she got from a book.
i love the idea of velvet cake. so the thought of blue velvet rooted in me (randomly) & i just had to do a blue & oatsy (because i love oats too) twist of velvet cupcakes. so check out the pictures & recipe below..

home-made buttermilk:
1/2 cup of low-fat milk + 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar/lemon juice.
let it sit for 5 minutes of the kitchen bench.
voila. 

stirring the oats into the flour-mix

mixing the blue-cocoa paste and beating the egg into it 

a sea of blue

folding in the flour. beating in the buttermilk.
folding in the flour. beating in the buttermilk.
folding in the flour. beating in the buttermilk. 

the final blue goo

fill it into the cups till 2/3 full

the blues are baked !

making the cream cheese frosting

DIY piping kit 

happy last day, Shermz Koh !

Makes 12 big & 6 tiny cuppy cakes

Ingredients (Cakes)
- Plain flour, 150g
- Oats, 50g (i used 35g instant & 15g rolled)
- Baking powder, 1 teaspoons
- Salt, a pinch
- Cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons, sifted
- Blue food colouring, 2 tablespoons
- Butter, unsalted, 125g, softened at room temperature
- Sugar, 150g
- Egg, 1
- Buttermilk, 1/2 cup (120ml)
*i didn't have it on hand so i just use 1/2 cup lowfat milk + 1/2 tablespoon of white vinegar (you may use lemon juice as well) & let it sit for 5 minutes. works just as well!
- White wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon
- Baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon
- Milk, low fat, 20ml

Ingredients (Cream Cheese Frosting)
- Butter, unsalted, 35g, softened at room temperature
- Cream cheese, 80% reduced fat, 75g, softened at room temperature
- Icing sugar, 100g, sifted
- Vanilla essence, 1 teaspoon

Methods (Cake)
1. Preheat oven to 180ºC.
2. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases and prepare 6 tiny paper cases (double-layer them).
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and stir in the oats.
4. In a small bowl, mix the sifted cocoa powder and colouring until it forms a paste, set aside.
5. Cream the butter until smooth, gradually add in the sugar and beat for 3 minutes to form a light & fluffy mixture.
6. Beat the egg into the blue-cocoa paste and pour it into the butter-mix together with the low-fat milk, creaming till smooth.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the flour-mix and add 1/2 of the buttermilk, beating well.
8. Fold in another 1/3 of flour-mix and add the remaining buttermilk, beating well.
9. Fold in the last of the flour-mix and add in the vinegar and baking soda, beating well for 2 minutes.
10. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases till 2/3 filled.
11. Bake for 20 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean. 
12. Cool in tin for 10 minutes before transferring to cool on a wire rack.

Methods (Frosting)
13. Cream the butter and cheese in a medium mixing bowl till light and fluffy.
14. Add in the icing sugar gradually and beat well.
15. Stir in the vanilla essence. 

Methods (Pipe)

* if you have a piping kit, that's good. for those who don't, you can do a DIY-piping. here's how..

you need: 1) a tall glass 2) a medium-sized clear plastic bag 3) a scissors

16. Place the plastic in the glass and fill it with the frosting.
17. Push the frosting to one side of the bag.
18. Use a scissors to snip a hole (big or small depending on how you want to pipe, for me, I'll snip it small first and make a bigger hole later if I want to).
19. Pipe away on the gorgeously blue velvet cakes.

How was it?

Cake - very fluffy & light..the oats gave a bit of a gritty taste (i love it)..but the cake was too blue - it stained the teeth & tongue! oopsy. & a tad too sweet for my taste buds.

Frosting - perfect for me. the cheesy & buttery flavour have the right balance, sweetness was okay (but I did cut it down from the original recipe). it's a frosting recipe to keep !

Better it up!
- Reduce the sugar in the cake to 125g.
- Use only 1 tablespoon of blue colouring or look for a natural food colouring
I heard from my friends that there is this natural blue colouring from the blue pea flower. I shall scoot around for it. I love colours & love whipping up colourful bakes like that, but I'm not a fan of artificial colouring, so would try to look for the natural alternatives. 

The Verdict

Recipe adapted from...
a page in a book my friend showed me

Sherman Gabriel says...

"texture of cupcake was good as  it's soft. icing (mild cheese taste) on top was good as it combines well with the sweetness of the cupcake itself. the sugar level can be cut down slightly. only my brother tried them and he said it was damn nice!"