Comments on: Chocolate: Red Velvet Cacao Nib Cupcakes

By: Cooking in Mexico

Cooking in Mexico — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:26:33 +0000

I, too, tried to make red velvet cake using a concentrate of hibiscus tea (jamaica tea in Mexico), but was disappointed in the result. Next, I tried a concentrate of roasted beet juice. Too much of a roasted beet taste, which I didn’t want in a cake. So I will just be happy with a chocolate colored cake, instead of using artificial color.

I hate to be a wet blanket, but are you aware that much of our chocolate is harvested by child slave labor in West Africa? To read more, see my article titled, “Chocolate, Slavery and Our Collective Guilt” on my blog. Green and Black chocolate and organic chocolate is slave-free.

Kathleen

By: beatriz

beatriz — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:36:09 +0000

Delicious! I knew we had a winner when I gave my husband a little taste of the batter before I started filling the the cupcake tins and I had to practically wrestle the spatula away from him :-)
I didn’t have cacao nibs, but I substituted a crumbled Spanish chocolate bar with a very high cacao percentage and every time you catch a nibble it gives just an extra little burst of chocolate.
Watch the baking time!!! I got distracted watching Olympic speed skating and those extra two minutes were enough for the bottom of a couple cupcakes to start browning too much.
Finally, despite my love for cream cheese frosting, in a nod to friends from New Orleans, I went with a cooked vanilla frosting which is a bit lighter.
Will definitely make again and again!

Andrea (FFC): Would love to try your frosting. Traditionally, red velvet cake was topped with a butter roux frosting made from boiling flour and butter. Auntie Gloria says she prefers that over the cream cheese version. Today, most folks prefer the cream cheese but some also top it with a buttercream. Thanks! Happy Valentine’s Day. Please forward me your NOLA frosting recipe.

By: Nicola Grun

Nicola Grun — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:01:54 +0000

Oh boy, these look fantastic!

Andrea (FFC): They taste better than any other red velvet cake/cupcake I’ve eaten. Very moist, just be sure not to overbake. The nibs bring out the chocolate essence but can be left out.

By: kirby

kirby — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:32:40 +0000

our kitchen looked like a CSI investigation scene. the bowls were deep red, the counter, the KNIVES! and when my adored wife asked me to taste a spoonful of ‘velvet’ batter, i, for a quick moment, had illusions of vampire lust. all-n-all, i never imagined such a sanguinary looking batch of dough could taste soooooo good! i ate my fair share of these, ‘warm, moist’ morsels and my cravings for their sweet red darkness seem to grow insatiable night after night . . . but i digress!

Andrea (FFC): I think someone has seen the Underworld Trilogy too many times.