Red Velvet Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting

Hello adventures and welcome back to another baking post. As you have probably realized by now I love to bake, and red velvet is one of my favorite cakes to make and eat. The fluffy, velvety red cake, is even better with the sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting. This has been a family recipe for many years, but the cake itself originally came from Paula Dean. The cream cheese frosting recipe was passed down from my loving Nana. Now onto the recipe.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk at room temperature (I use 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to make buttermilk)
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red liquid food coloring
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 1-8oz package of softened cream cheese
• 1 pound of powered sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla

Directions

For the cupcakes:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake liners. (I used Valentines Day themed ones)

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. Then in another separate bowl (I used my glass measuring cup thingy) gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a electric mixer (I used a normal whisk). Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined. (Now in true Payton fashion I did the opposite of what the recipe said and added the wet into the dry ingredients.)

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in the oven for about 20-22 minutes, turning the pans once half way through. (Unless your oven has a convection setting then there is no need to turn them). Test cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness, if it comes out clean they are done. Remove from oven and cool completely on a rack before frosting.

Nana’s Cream Cheese Frosting:

Beat the butter and cream cheese in a electric stand mixer until smooth. Then sift all the powdered sugar, add the sifted powdered sugar into the cream cheese and butter mix, scraping down the sides of the bowl to insure there are no lumps. (I would advise adding the powered sugar in stages instead of all at once to make sure its nice and smooth.) Mix together on a low speed setting and gradually increase the speed, so you don’t get covered in powdered sugar. Then finally add vanilla extract and beat until fully combined.

Now time for the funnest part, decorating the cupcakes. You can just spread the desired amount of frosting onto your cupcakes with an offset spatula, but I prefer to use a piping bag equipped with a Wilton 2B pipping tip. This tip is very fun to use because when finished piping the cupcake looks like a rose. All you need to do start piping in the very middle of the cupcakes and start working out going around the middle until the cupcake is frosted. But the fun thing about cupcakes is you can decorate them however you wish, have fun experimenting with different tips and techniques.

Then they are ready to eat. I would advise keeping these cupcakes in the fridge in an airtight container, and eat within three days.

Comment down below your favorite cupcake flavor and it might be featured in an upcoming post. Until the next adventure,

Love, Payton