Roasted Ancho Red Velvet Cakes

Okay, I'm back! Let's get started with the classic favorite, Red Velvet Cake, and add my twist.

(Disclaimer: The video is a little much in the beginning, but it's only in the begining. lol)





Roasted Ancho Red Velvet Cakes

I've been wanting to do this for sometime now, and though some view the trend of combining Chiles with Chocolate as over, what taste good is good! My great friend Adrian said, 'Let's make a new video!' So here it is.



The addition of the smokey ancho paste add a very subtle, dark, complexity to the vague chocolate mystery that is Red Velvet Cake.



Red Velvet is a classic from the south that are simply a light cocoa cake that originally gets it's red color from the reaction of the vinegar and buttermilk with the cocoa powder. Nowadays, to drive home the point that the cake is really of the Red Velvet variety, red food coloring is added. I guess you could try and use beets to enhance the color naturally, but that's probably more effort and time than one would normally like to allocate to an afternoon baking with friends. All that to say, these are delicious cupcakes. Enjoy!





Ingredients Vegetable oil for the pans

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon fine salt

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 tablespoons red food coloring (1 ounce)

1 teaspoon white distilled white vinagar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons roasted red ancho chili paste

dash of red pepper flakes For the Coconut Cream Cheese Filling: 1 pound cream cheese, softened

1 sticks butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 cup condensed coconut cream

Directions



Preheat the oven to 360F. Line pans with cupcake papers. In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In another bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla . Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined. Add the ancho chili paste and red pepper flakes. Taste and ad more or less depending on your taste. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting. For the Filling: In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, coconut cream and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until incorporated. Whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks and fold into the cream cheese mixture.