• Line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners. Preheat your oven to 175C.
• In a large bowl add the oil, sugar, vanilla, red food colour and egg. Beat really well, about 1-2 minutes.
• Sift in the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt. Gently fold it in. Halfway through the mixing, add the milk. Mix gently.
• Now when the batter is almost done mixing. Take a small bowl, add the vinegar and baking soda (it should fizz up) pour this into the batter as it is bubbling. Gently fold it into the batter. Do not overmix.
• Pour this batter into the lined muffin cups. Try to work as quickly as possible. I use an ice cream scoop to portion out the batter. You may also use a spouted jug to pour it.
• Bake for roughly 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
• Let the cupcakes cool on a wire rack for at least ten minutes inside the pan, then remove and let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

• In a heavy bottom saucepan, add the flour, salt, sugar, and milk. Whisk till the mixture is smooth and there are no lumps of flour.
• Place this on medium to low heat while whisking constantly. Within 3 minutes the mixture should thicken up and start bubbling. As soon as a total of 3 minutes are over. Take this off the heat, transfer to a flat dish and put it in the refrigerator to cool down. At least 1 hour. (I like to do this step before baking the cupcakes)
• Once your mixture is cooled down, add the cream cheese (see notes above) and, vanilla. Using a handheld whisk or your stand mixer, whip this mixture for a total of 5-6 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl every 1-2 minutes as needed to ensure a smooth frosting.
• Slather this frosting on your cupcakes using a spatula or pipe swirls as per your liking.