Red Velvet Cupcakes

Yes, I’ve obviously taste tested my fair share of red velvet cupcakes and played around with other peoples’ –  but I didn’t feel like my own recipe experiments were any better than red velvet cupcakes from the bakery. So clearly, I had to do some kitchen research.

Now – I love red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. It’s a deliciously soft cupcake with a mild chocolate flavor that’s somewhere in between vanilla and chocolate cake. But if the recipe isn’t just quite right – you miss the mark and end up with a bland taste and eerily red color. Obviously which neither I wanted.

So – after a few months, multiple recipe and about 1000 questions to my taste testers (How fluffy would you say these cupcakes are? On a scale of a pretty red color to a neon, garish red color – where do these land? I’m totally normal and not annoying in the least…..) This is the PERFECT red velvet cupcake recipe.

The key ingredients in red velvet cake are the cocoa, baking soda, vinegar, buttermilk and of course the red food coloring. (Ok – obviously there are other important ones, but these ingredients give the cake its name). Turns out, red velvet cake wasn’t originally bright red and dyed with food coloring like it is today. When the acid in the buttermilk and vinegar react with the cocoa – they can give the cocoa a slightly reddish tinge. Then over the years, red food coloring was added to the recipe to exaggerate the red color.

Seriously, do we need to say more??? I think cream cheese frosting is the best/most important reason for making red velvet cupcakes. It’s like a fluffy, pillowy soft mountain of cream cheese goodness. (Or when I asked Jay to describe it, “super tasty”….. Clearly, the engineers have all the best words). To keep the frosting thick – I added a little shortening to the recipe  since shortening stays solid at room temperature. So you get cream cheese icing perfection: tangy, smooth, not crazy sweet & can hold up well to being piped or spread with a flat edge knife.

So now red velvet lovers…. we eat. Well, bake then eat. Or bake, then eat. Then bake and eat again – if you’re completely obsessed like me.

Ingredients
For the Cupcakes

• 1 and 2/3 cup cake flour sifted
• 2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 to 2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons distilled vinegar

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened to room temperature
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1 cup cream cheese softened to room temperature, 8 oz
• 4 and 1/2 to 5 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar , sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-2 tablespoons whipping cream

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees and line 2 muffin tins with muffin papers. You'll end up with about 16-18 cupcakes total.
2. In a large bowl sift together the cake flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. ..........................................

for full instruction please see : www.justsotasty.com

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