Red velvet cupcake with Bailey's cream cheese frosting: Happy Valentine's Day from Zurich!

I caved in and decided to do Valentine's baking after a boring day of doing admin work for my thesis. I was initially going to do macarons but that failed miserably so ended up with a red velvet cupcake instead. For a first try I thought it was ok, nothing like Magnolia Bakery's version of course  (I don't have enough butter in the fridge to do that).... As for the Bailey's, well any excuse for booze on Valentine's right? 


Red velvet cupcake with Bailey's cream cheese frosting 
Makes 12 cupcakes
 
Ingredients
 
For the cupcakes  
adapted from here

Dry ingredients to mix first
1 1/4 cup of cake flour (or substitute with 4/5 cup all-purpose flour plus 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch), sifted
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

To get the redness
red and blue food colouring 
1/2 cup buttermilk, or substitute with 1/2 cup plain yogurt

The real stuff that makes the cupcakes sweet and addictive, and you'd rather not know
3/4 cup granulated sugar
60 g butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar, or substitute with 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon baking soda / bicarbonate soda

Bailey's cream cheese frosting
2 tubs (2 x 175g) cream cheese
1 - 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar, sifted (give or take, depending on how sweet you want the icing to be) 
5-6 tablespoons of Bailey's

Method
 
Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with cupcake liners. 
 
Mix all the dry ingredients together in one bowl, use a whisk or fork to ensure they are mixed in properly. 
 
Mix the buttermilk and food colouring in another bowl. To get the right redness use this food colouring chart (you might need to mix blue/red) 
 
Beat the butter until it is soft using an electric stand mixer or hand mixer on medium speed, about 1-2 minutes. Gradually beat in the sugar into the butter, a third of the amount at a time, keep mixing for another couple of minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract and eggs until completely mixed in. 
 
Get your two other bowls ready (the dry ingredients and the buttermilk mixes). With ninja like precision, alternately add in a third of dry ingredients mix and buttermilk mix, into the butter/sugar/egg mix. Continue to beat the mixture, making sure all the ingredients are mixed into the butter mix before adding in the next batch. 
 
In a small cup mix in the vinegar or lemon juice with the baking soda. Wait until it starts fizzing then fold into the cupcake batter. 
 
Take the muffin tray and start spooning one ladle of batter per cupcake liner (about 3/4 way to the top of the liner). Bake in the oven for about 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the tray for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack for final cooling. 
 
Bailey's cream cheese frosting 
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until it is soft. Gradually beat in the sifted icing sugar into the cream cheese, for about 1-2 minutes. Fold in the Bailey's into the frosting mixture until well incorporated. Spoon cream cheese frosting into piping bags to decorate the cupcakes (or you can just swirl on top of the cupcakes using the back of a teaspoon). 
Devour. 
 
Store unfrosted cupcakes in air tight container in room temperature. Store unused frosting in a covered bowl in the fridge. If you can, try to frost just before serving.