Prepare two baking trays by lining them with greaseproof paper/baking parchment.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg, buttermilk and vanilla, and beat in well. Add the gel food colouring now and beat in, adding more if needed. If using beet powder, add in the next step.

Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Add the salt and beat in until a dough has formed. Add the beet powder or more food colouring for a richer red colour.

If the mix seems more soft than dough-like, add more flour gradually, 1 tbsp at a time. Do this until a firmer dough has formed.

Tip out onto a clean and floured surface and bring together into a disc. Flour a rolling pin and use this to roll the dough out until around ½ cm in thickness.

Using a cat shaped cookie cutter, cut out 24 biscuits and lay in rows of 4 (across) by 3 (down) on each tray. You will need to bring the dough together and roll back out again a couple of times to do this.

Square off the bottom of each biscuit, either by reshaping gently or trimming the edge. Curve the cat ears inwards towards each other to create devil horns.

Optional: using a sharp knife, poke eye holes in each biscuit, stretching the dough out slightly to create slits.

Place the trays in the fridge while your oven heats up.

Preheat your oven to 180°C [350°F] or 160°C fan.

Once up to temperature, place your trays on the middle shelves and bake the biscuits for 8 – 10 minutes, until dry looking on the surface. They will continue to bake on the tray so don’t be tempted to bake for longer!

Once baked, leave to cool on the trays completely.

Optional: while your red velvet biscuits are cooling, prepare cream cheese frosting to sandwich the biscuits together. Add red food colouring to the frosting if desired.