Twilight Red Velvet Cupcakes

When it comes to making Twilight bites, devilish Twilight red velvet cupcakes are one of the most popular choices.

And it's not hard to see why. Velvety blood-red cake, topped with creamy frosting and a drizzle of blood-red icing or sauce... just perfect!

But how to make these sumptuous delights? This lens shows you how to make red velvet cupcakes, collects together the best red velvet recipes, and showcases the best Twilight Red Velvet Cupcakes recipes on the web!

And that's not all - read on for tons of ideas on how to top your Twilight red velvets with a plethora of cool toppings and topper ideas!

So come on now, hear those cupcakes calling. You know you want to... bite me!

A Twist on the Southern Red Velvet Cake!

There are lots of red velvet cake recipes. But we want to turn this cake mix into cupcakes! So here is a basic recipe to start you off:

* 1/3 cup cocoa

* 3 tablespoons red food coloring

* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

* 1/2 cup butter, softened

* 1 1/2 cups sugar

* 4 egg yolks

* 1 cup buttermilk

* 1 teaspoon salt

* 2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour

* 1 teaspoon baking soda

* 1 teaspoon white vinegar

Frontier Vanilla Extract

Fair Trade Certified

Saco Buttermilk

Blend, 16-Ounce Canister

(Pack of 3)

Durkee Red Food Color, 16-Ounce Containers

(Pack of 3)

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 C/ 350 F/ Gas Mark 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases. Brush the top of the tray with vegetable oil for easy release after baking

2. Mix the cocoa, food coloring, and vanilla together in a small bowl and set aside

3. Beat the sugar and butter together using a mixer or hand mixer set on medium-high speed. Add the egg yolks and beat for another minute. Beat in the cocoa mixture to combine

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons, copyright of Kendall's Entertaining Life

4. Stir together the buttermilk and salt and add 1/3, before adding 1/3 of the flour. Alternate until all is mixed in

5. Mix the baking soda and vinegar together and blend into the batter. The acid from the vinegar and buttermilk reacts with the cocoa to make the red color really pop!

6. Fill each cupcake tin with 3 tablespoons batter, or use an ice-cream scoop as per the video below. Bake for approx 15-20 minutes or until a cocktail stick inserted in the cupcake center comes out clean

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons, copyright of Kendall's Entertaining Life

7. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack and allowing to cool completely before frosting

For simple yet stunning Twilight cupcakes, top with cream cheese frosting and trickle red sauce over the top for a blood red delight!

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons, copyright of Kendall's Entertaining Life

This is a great video and really helped when I made my first ever batch of red velvet cupcakes. It has lots of great tips, such as adding the sugar to the butter bit by bit so that the cupcakes turn out lighter.

The classic topping for red velvet cake is cream cheese frosting. It's up to you how you want to experiment with frosting for your Twilight cupcakes - you might want the classic peaked whirl of icing, or prefer something flatter so you can put a Twilight image on top. Experiment with flavor too - what tastes do YOU think sum up the Twilight Saga?

EASY CREAM CHEESE FROSTING RECIPE

* 1 cup cream cheese, softened

* 1 and 1/2 tbsp butter, softened, not melted

* 1 tsp vanilla essence

* 1/3 cup icing sugar

Cream the butter and the cream cheese, and whisk until the mixture is creamy smooth. Add the icing sugar and vanilla essence and whisk again well. It's as easy as that! Always allow your cupcakes to cool completely before adding or piping on the frosting.

CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Add a tablespoon of cocoa powder to the final mixture and whisk

Or for extra indulgence, add a Chocolate Ganache mixture!

CARAMEL CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Add 1/2 a cup of thick caramel ice-cream topping and whisk

LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Add a tablespoon of lemon juice along with a little lemon rind and whisk

ORANGE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Add a tablespoon of orange essence and orange rind and whisk

COCONUT CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Add 1/8 to 1/4 tsp of coconut extract depending on how strong you want the flavor and 1 cup shredded or flaked sweetened coconut, and whisk

MANGO CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Add 1/4 cup mango puree to the mixture and whisk

ALTERNATIVE TOPPING: SILKY WHITE OR DARK CHOCOLATE FROSTING

FOR DARK CHOCOLATE TOPPING:

* 1 cup milk

* 3 tablespoons flour

* 1/8 teaspoon salt

* 8 ounces of 62 percent dark chocolate

* 1 cup butter

* 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

* 2 tablespoons cocoa

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FOR WHITE CHOCOLATE TOPPING:

* 1 cup milk

* 3 tablespoons flour

* 1/8 teaspoon salt

* 8 ounces of white chocolate

* 1 cup butter

* 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

* Whisk the milk, flour, and salt over medium heat until the mix thickens and starts bubbling. Transfer to a small bowl and cool

* Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool

* Beat the butter, sugar, and, if making dark chocolate topping, the cocoa together until fluffy. Beat in the cooled chocolate then add the milk mixture and, if making the dark chocolate, vanilla extract, beating until fluffy and smooth

MORE ALTERNATIVE TOPPING IDEAS

* Buttercream * Vanilla Buttercream * Fondant * Cream * Chocolate Ganache * Butter Roux (cooked flour frosting)

Are you on Team Cake or Team Cupcake? Vote here!

Twilight Red Velvet - Best as a cake or a cupcake?

There are some great Twilight red velvet cupcake recipes online. The first is by Not Quite Nigella, and the second comes from the Unofficial Twilight Cupcake Book, which is completely FREE to read and download!

Twilight Red Velvet Cupcakes by Not Quite Nigella

Blushing Bella's Red Velvet Cupcakes

If you have held or attended a Twilight party, or seen one on the web, then you will appreciate how much detail Twifans can go into when it comes to decorating anything to do with Twilight!

The easiest way to decorate your Twilight Red Velvet Cupcakes is with a Twilight cupcake topper. These are edible art images and come in all shapes and sizes. There are lots to choose from and are readily available on eBay (see below).

Top with Edward and Jacob with little signs saying "Team Edward" or "Team Jacob" for an all-out food fight! Or go for romance with toppers featuring Edward and Bella together, Alternatively go for quote toppers with such quotes as "Bite me!" or "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb", or opt for stunningly simple with toppers of the book covers. A small round topper featuring the hands holding the red apple look amazing.

You can also opt to make your own form of topper for your cupcakes. Create fondant designs, or use sauce, sprinkles or edible glitter! Here are some ideas:

* Roses for Bella (see picture)

* Gerbera Daisies (in honor of Bella's birthday cake in New Moon!)

* Edible glitter to represent vampire sparkle (go for ice cool silver on top of a white chocolate or cream cheese frosting!)

* Strawberry or raspberry sauce (trickling through the frosting to represent blood)

* Fondant wolf

* Fondant lions and lambs

* E&B initials

* Iced writing with short quotes such as "Bite Me!" or Team Edward and Team Jacob

* Fondant red apple

* Fondant tulip petals

* Red edible sprinkles

* Black and white chessboard fondant

Make baking and cake-mixing less of a chore with this invaluable kitchen gadget! Of course, it does so much more than cakes, but if you are serious about making cakes and cupcakes then this baby is pure genius. And this model even comes in stunning Twilight red... what more could a Twilight baking extraordinaire want?

I hope you enjoyed reading this page! Please leave your comments, stories, recipes and feedback here!