RED VELVET

Hey lovely people,

Hope you're enjoying this holiday season! Here is a little something to brighten up your day.

If you love cake, then you must love red velvet. The following is a timeless recipe, one that  I've used countless times and its never failed me.

The good news is that its very easy to make.

Also I'll have you know that you can make this recipe in two ways, baked into a cake, or into 24 cupcakes.
What I love the most about this cake is that its not an overly sweet cake because it has a slightly sour taste. Most people mistake red velvet with just any ordinary red cake. I especially hate going to some coffee shops that claim to serve red velvet but it ends up being a stale red cake. Red velvet is not just about the color but about the taste and texture and here's how to make it.

Ingredients:-

For the cake
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons vanilla essence
2 teaspoons soda bicarbonate
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup maziwa mala (buttermilk)
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 tablespoon red food color [either bright red or tomato red]
Margarine [blueband] to grease your tin before baking

For the icing
200 gr Cream cheese
100 gr Icing sugar
200gr Unsalted Butter
4 tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

For the cake
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
So start of by beating the eggs in a large bowl. Beat for about 1 minute. This enables the eggs to trap in the air which will help the cake in rising. Follow by adding the sugar and oil and beat well.
In a separate bowl, sieve the flour and mix with the cocoa powder and put aside. Once that is done, add the vanilla essence, soda bicarbonate and the apple cider vinegar and beat well. In a cup, mix the red food color with a tablespoon milk, and then add the rest of the milk and maziwa mala and add to the mixture. I have found this to work well as opposed to adding the color directly to the mixture which makes the cake bitter.
Finish of by mixing in the flour at a low speed until the entire mixture is blended well. Do not overbeat.

Use margarine to grease your baking tin and dust with flour before adding the batter to bake for 30-35 minutes. If you're making cupcakes, spoon the batter into the cupcake liners and bake for 12 minutes.
Note: Do not open the oven unless to remove the cake once it is done, since the air will escape and your cake might not cook well in the center.

For the icing
Beat the butter and cream cheese together in a bowl. Add milk, vanilla essence and the icing sugar and beat well until smooth.

Remove from oven. Insert a toothpick or knife in the center and if it comes out clean then you'll know that your cake is ready. Place on a rack to cool down. [Do not refrigerate]

Once the cake or cupcakes have cooled down, ice them with the cream cheese frosting.

You can also serve with fresh strawberries. Enjoy ;-)

Shout out to I6 Photography for taking the cupcake pictures a little while ago. Like I said, its a timeless recipe.

As always, I'll have you know:-

-I'm up to 15000+ pageviews-thank you Jesus! and thank you all for following and trying out my recipes.

-I'm now on Youtube, you can subscribe and check out the video here: CookingwithJaz

-I am officially on twitter on this account (@cookingwithjaz)

-I am also on facebook on this page "cooking with jaz"
-You can also find me on instagram under the handle, "cookingwithjaz"

-If you want to be featured on the "GUEST AND RECIPE OF THE WEEK" email me on "cookingwithjaz@yahoo.com"

-If you have tried any of my recipes, do tag me or send me the pics on any one of my social media pages

Have a lovely week :)

Sincerely,

Jaz.

BROWNIES ON A CHILLY NIGHT

Praise God for a new week.
I can't help but think about how sovereign God is. I think about having reached such a milestone with my loved one this past weekend and also of receiving the sad news of the passing of a good man.
God is truly everywhere right now being everything to everyone.
To those who are rejoicing, and to those who are mourning.
As some plan to wed, others plan to bury.
All in all, we cannot question anything that God does with His own. We can only trust in Him, knowing that He loves us and that His will towards us is good. Above all let us be reminded that we must live to know Him and to make Him known. All Glory to Him.

Praying for those who are mourning Kaberere.
Be encouraged by this song that brings me hope in dark moments....

The heart song

Over the weekend I made some brownies, that I think you should try out. I think I baked mine for too long, but the recipe is certainly a keeper when baked for a shorter period.

Ingredients:-
2 Bournville chocolate bars
100 grams butter
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Start off by melting the butter with the chocolate in a bowl over hot water. Be careful to get a bowl that doesn't melt when in contact with the hot water. You can use a stainless steel one or a hard plastic one.

It takes about 3-5 minutes for the butter and chocolate to melt. 

Mix the chocolate with the sugar and cocoa manually followed by the vegetable oil. 

Then whisk in the eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl sieve the floor and add to the mix slowly till it is mixed well. Add vanilla essence.

Pour batter into a greased baking tin and bake for 20-22 minutes.

Note that this mixture is not meant to rise like other cakes that have baking powder. After 20 minutes, check if it is ready by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cake and it shouldn't come out clean like other cakes since brownies are suppose to have a very moist-chocolatey center. 

Remove and place on rack to cool.

Serve with custard or icecream. 

Enjoy.
Have a purposeful and meaningfull week.
Love God, love others, be quick to forgive and even quicker to apologize, give thanks and live every moment like its the last.

Also I'll have you know:-

-I'm up to 6500 + pageviews-thankyou Jesus! and thankyou all for following and trying out my recipes.

-I'm now on Youtube, you can subscribe and check out the video here: CookingwithJaz

-I am officially on twitter on this account (@cookingwithjaz)

-I am also on facebook on this page "cooking with jaz"

-If you want to be featured on the "GUEST AND RECIPE OF THE WEEK" email me on "cookingwithjaz@yahoo.com"

-If you have tried any of my recipes, do tag me or send me the pics on any one of my social media pages

 

Sincerely 

Jaz.