Weird World of Food: Red Bull cupcakes

Digital journalist

Monday 12 November 2012

This week my adventure to find the weirdest creations the internet has to offer ventures into the world of caffeinated baking as I try my hand at making Red Bull cupcakes.

Red Bull cupcakes

If I am honest, I have a bit of a love hate relationship with Red Bull. It is fantastic as a mid morning pick-me-up and has helped many a tired soul through a hectic day at the office on barely any sleep. However, I have never really taken to the taste of it and, when I look at its high sugar content, I usually think of all the cakes and sweets I could have eaten instead of this vaguely bitter tasting drink and feel slightly cheated. This has never stopped me drinking it though!

As a result, I feel I cannot turn down the chance to make a cupcake using the high energy drink when I come across a recipe which combines the two online. Although the recipe calls for Red Bull you could use any other brand of energy drink for the cupcakes including Relentless, Monster or Scotland's own Nae Danger. I am hoping that these cakes will provide me with the ideal solution to the niggling problem that I have with Red Bull and allow me to enjoy the benefits of the high-energy drink without missing out on cakes. The fact that the cupcakes are bright red and blue is merely a bonus! However, as I start making the cupcake batter it soon becomes clear that this recipe is not going to be as easy as I had hoped. After mixing the butter, sugar, eggs, flour and salt together, it is time to add the red food colouring, vanilla essence and three quarters of a can of Red Bull. The key ingredient seems to have a bit of an effect on the mixture, making it very runny and the bright red food colouring does nothing to help matters. Once I finally get the mix into the cupcake moulds, the aftermath looks like something out of a horror film, with splatters of red cake mix covering the work-top, floor and parts of my torso! Undeterred I place the cakes in the oven and start work on the blue buttercream icing. This is a task which I think will go smoothly. How wrong I am! After mixing sugar, butter and vanilla essence to make the topping, it is time to put the icing on the cake so to speak. However, as I start piping, the butter begins to heat up and the entire bag is soon spewing out globs of melted blue goo. Determined to persevere and with my hands now resembling the colour of a Smurf, I finish the icing and put the cakes in the fridge to allow them to firm up. Finally it is time to taste them and, to be honest, I am not as excited about it as I had hoped I would be. The cakes are tasty and have a real kick to them but, and this is something I thought I would never say, they are actually a bit too sweet for me. They are fantastic as a bit of a pick-me-up but I suspect eating more than one at a time could prove lethal! Unfortunately my quest to find a happy medium between Red Bull and cakes has not been as successful as I had hoped. However, if you are looking for a cupcake with a kick then this is definitely a sweet treat that is worth trying for yourself. If you would like to try making Red Bull cupcakes follow the recipe below. Cupcake batter: 170g of softened unsalted butter 300g of granulated sugar 3 eggs 250g of self-raising flour 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence A quarter of a teaspoon of salt 80ml of milk 190ml of Red Bull (If you prefer other brands of energy drink then use them instead) 28ml of red food colouring Icing: 12 tablespoons of melted butter 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence 440g of icing sugar 2-4 tablespoons of milk Blue food colouring (add until you are happy with the colour of the icing) 1 Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius 2 Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl 3 Add the eggs one by one and mix 4 Add in the milk, vanilla essence and red food colouring 5 In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and salt 6 Slowly add a third of the flour and salt to the butter mix 7 Pour in half of the Red Bull to the butter mix and stir 8 Add another third of the flour and salt and the rest of the Red Bull to the butter mixture and stir 9 Add the final third of the flour and salt to the butter mixture, scrape down the sides of the bowl and make sure the batter is mixed together thoroughly 10 Fill the cupcakes moulds two thirds full and place the cakes in the oven for 15-18 minutes 11 Remove the cakes from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool 12 To make the icing, combine the butter and vanilla essence in a bowl 13 Slowly add the icing sugar, around 100g at a time, and mix 14 Add the blue food colouring and then slowly add the milk until the icing reaches the desired consistency 15 Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes and serve This recipe will make around 18 cupcakes. If you have got a weird recipe that you would like me to try email me. Alternatively, if you have tried making this recipe, why not let me know how you got on by leaving a comment in the box below. Happy baking! Click here to read my Weird World of Food: dessert nachos blog.

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Weird World of Food: Red Bull cupcakes

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