Red Velvet recipe?

[CremeDeSudo]

I've just made the Hummingbird bakery recipe for red velvets and am completely disappointed don't know what went wrong but they're not red! Nor are they even remotely moist and are more chocolatey than anything else

Can anyone recommend a recipe?

Also, how do you get cream cheese buttercream to not go too runny?!

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Red Velvet Cupcakes
Recipe:

175g/6oz Self Raising Flour

125/4oz Caster Sugar

150g/5oz Butter or Margarine (room temperature)

2 Large Eggs

2 Tablespoons Drinking Chocolate (not cocoa as it makes mix too dark)

4 Tablespoons Water

2 Teaspoons Red Food Colouring

Method:
1.Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Line a 12 cupcake tin with paper cases.
2.Beat butter or margarine and sugar in a bowl until light in colour.
3.Add the flour, eggs, drinking chocolate, water and red colouring. Beat well until mixture resembles a thick batter.
4.Divide the mixture between the muffin cases. Bake for 20 minutes until risen and ‘springs back’ when gently touched.
5.Cool on a wire tray. When cold decorate as liked
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Chocolate Frosting
450g cream cheese, softened (I use crème freche)
125g butter, softened (I usually use unsalted for desserts)
125g sieved icing sugar
125g Bourneville Cocoa Powder
1-2 tbsp. Milk

Sieve icing sugar and cocoa powder together
Add cream cheese and soft butter and gently mix lightly together, can be mixed with wooden spoon or electric hand mixer to suitable consistency
Gradually add 1-2 tablespoons of milk (only add enough to get consistency you want.

If you want to do white/vanilla frosting, leave out cocoa powder and add a tsp of vanilla essence instead

If using a fan oven you may need to lower the oven temp, I usually go 20 degrees c less with my fan oven

Thanks! that seems like an easier recipe than the one I used. Do they come out red?! and moist?

The hummingbird cream cheese frosting recipe works really well for me, but it does go runny if you over beat it. I set a timer for 5 mins and stop beating after 5 mins.

Are you beating it by hand? I used an electric whisk. I've never made it before so didn't realise I had to be so careful!

I think it is probably the food colouring that you used. Liquid colouring is fine for icing when you want pastel colours, but for baking you must use colouring gels as liquid colours are too pale and change the consistency of the sponge mixture. Wilton ones are excellent and are available at Lakeland or online.

Avoid the Dr Oetker ones, they are useless.

I used Nigella's recipe to make a birthday cake last year (as a cake not cupcakes) and it was quite nice.

No - I beat with my Kenwood Chef using the K beater attachment.