THE BEST RED VELVET CUPCAKES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Hi, it’s Jenn, from Eat Cake For Dinner. I’m back again sharing one of my absolute favorite cupcake recipes with you.

When I was young, I had never heard of, or seen, a red velvet cupcake. It wasn’t until I was an adult when I first discovered red velvet cake. Honestly, I think I first saw a red velvet cake on an episode of Paula Deen on T.V. and I had to try this interesting cake right away.

From the moment I first tasted red velvet cake, it instantly became my favorite and is still, to this day, my favorite flavor of cake.

There was a time when I was making a new red velvet cake recipe every weekend. I had to make up for lost time, right? I tried recipe after recipe and none compared to this one. It is a light cake with a beautiful red color and a slight chocolate flavor with a little tang from the buttermilk. Red velvet cake is not meant to have a super strong chocolate flavor.

I top these cupcakes with my go-to cream cheese frosting recipe. I prefer my cream cheese frosting to have more butter than cream cheese, but if you like a super strong cream cheese flavor, you can double the cream cheese and cut the amount of butter called for in half.

This has been my go-to red velvet cupcake recipe for years and years and I’m sure it will become your favorite too.

INGREDIENTS

3⅓ c. cake flour (not self-rising)
¾ c. (12 Tbl.) unsalted butter, room temperature
2¼ c. sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 Tbl. liquid red food coloring
3 Tbl. unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
1½ tsp. salt
1½ c. buttermilk
1½ tsp. white vinegar
1½ tsp. baking soda
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
¼ tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4½ c. powdered sugar
1 Tbl. milk, plus more if needed

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and spray with cooking spray; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and sugar and mix on medium speed until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, whisk the food coloring, cocoa powder and vanilla together; add to the butter/sugar mixture and mix well. Stir the salt into the buttermilk and add to the batter in three parts, alternating with the cake flour, starting and ending with flour. In a small bowl, stir together the vinegar and baking soda; add to the batter and mix well.
Fill cupcake liners ⅔ full with batter and bake in preheated oven for 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not over bake. Repeat with remaining cupcakes. Cool completely and top with Cream Cheese Frosting. Makes about 3½ dozen cupcakes.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting: In a large bowl, mix together butter, cream cheese, salt and vanilla until smooth. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. If frosting is too thick, add a little milk. If you are planning to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes, you want it thick enough to hold its shape. This makes enough frosting to pipe a big swirl on the top of each cupcake. I used a Wilton 1M piping tip.
*If you do not want to pipe a large swirl onto each cupcake and prefer to spread a small layer on top instead, the amount of frosting can be cut in half.