Pre-prepare some red velvet cupcakes – also perfect Valentine's Day treats. Each cupcake will get 35 grams of carbohydrates back into your body after a run. The reddish tinge comes from an antioxidant in cocoa combining with the acids in the buttermilk and vinegar.

Cupcake Ingredients
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

Cream-Cheese Frosting Ingredients
235 mililitres cream cheese
225 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups icing sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heart-shaped cupcake toppers or coloured sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with wrappers. Mix dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients together. Pour wet mixture into dry and mix until combined. Fill tins two-thirds full with batter. Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Cool completely. For frosting, mix butter and cream cheese until smooth. Slowly mix in icing sugar. Add vanilla extract. Frost cupcakes using a piping bag fitted with a star-shaped tip. Or frost with a small spatula. Sprinkle with coloured sugar or cupcake toppers. Makes 24.

Kilojoules per cupcake: 1214
Carbs: 35g
Protein: 3g

Fat: 16g

Taken from the February 2012 edition of Runner's World, the largest running magazine in the world, published monthly in 11 countries.