Cooking with Permjit K. Sandhu

 With February approaching, I can’t help but look forward to Valentine’s Day. The theme of love makes my heart glow, with the red, pink and white decorations, cinnamon hearts, Valentine’s cards, and my personal favourite, chocolate! 

As a schoolgirl in Victoria, I would wear a red sweater with red ribbons braided in my hair just for the occasion. It was customary to share Valentine’s cards with teachers and classmates. There were social events every year in which students exchanged candies and gifts with one another. With the help of my mother, I became known for my baked goodies.  I started out with simple sugar cookies in fourth grade and learned to bake all sorts of sweet indulgences by my adult years. 

When I got married and had children, I kept the Valentine’s traditions I grew up with alive. My husband and children still talk about the small notes I would leave them in their lunch boxes, notebooks and backpacks. We celebrate this day to show appreciation for the families and friends we adore and to spend quality time together. Some of us like to receive gifts such as jewelry, greeting cards, bouquets of roses, or chocolates. These gestures, big or small, add a personal touch and can go a long way to warm the hearts of the ones you love. 

I never need an excuse to bake something, but Valentine’s Day is always so special. Who doesn’t love giving in to their sweet tooth by biting in to a sweet work of art? These scrumptious cupcakes will quickly disappear!

Ingredients

DRY INGREDIENTS

• 2 2/3 Cups plain cake flour 
• 2 tbsp Cocoa powder 
• 1 tsp Baking soda 
• Pinch of salt

WET INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup Unsalted butter , softened 
• 1 1/2 Granulated white sugar 
• 2 eggs , at room temperature
• 1 cup  Vegetable oil
• 1 tsp White vinegar
• 2 tsp Vanilla extract 
• 1 cup  Buttermilk , at room temperature 
• 2 1/2 tbsp red food colouring liquid 

FROSTING

• 400 g Philadelphia Cream Cheese, block , softened 
• 1/2 cup Unsalted butter , softened
• 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 4 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar, sifted 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tin with large paper liners
2. Sift the Dry Ingredients and whisk to combine in a bowl.
3. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with electric beater or in stand mixer until smooth and well combined (use paddle attachment if using stand mixer).
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth.
5. Add vegetable oil, vinegar, vanilla, buttermilk and red food colouring. Beat until combined and smooth.
6. Add Dry Ingredients. Beat until just combined - some small lumps is ok, that's better than over mixing.
7. Spoon the batter evenly between the cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8. Rest for 10 minutes in the pan then turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool.

FROSTING

1. Beat together cream cheese, butter and vanilla for 3 minutes (this makes it really smooth and changes from yellow to almost white). Add icing sugar and beat for 2 minutes or until frosting is light and fluffy to your taste. If your frosting seems too runny (depends on quality of cream cheese/ if the cream cheese was too soft), just add more icing sugar.