Red Velvet Cupcakes.

This weekend, I've decided to bake a batch of red velvet cupcakes. It is a Southern US (think cajun, buttermilk biscuits and fried chicken). The cake has a light cocoa flavour and it has the texture and colour of red velvet (as the name suggests). It is topped with a butter roux icing.

There is a story attached to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City that has been turned into an urban legend. A woman is reported to have asked for the recipe for the delicious red velvet cake she was served at the hotel restaurant, only to find that she had been billed $100 (or $250) for the recipe. Indignant, she spread it to all her friends as a chain letter to stop the hotel from profiting further.

The pictures of the cupcakes are those decorated with rose pashmak (Persian Fairy Floss). It may be Persian but it originated from an Iranian shop selling Persian sweets.