Week 7: Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (for AEC)

I'm just going to apologize for the picture right now. It's not very good. I had to get some pictures before things started to go stale or anything. 


Beyond the picture though...these cupcakes are good. They were described as the best red velvet cupcakes one of my coworkers had ever had. I'll let you in on a secret...I've never had a red velvet cupcake. I made them because I have an obsession with red right now and it was Valentine's Day. Who knew that these things were time consuming. You mix and mix and mix and mix and mix. When you're done mixing, you mix some more. Ugh. My arm was so sore. I need a stand mixer. These cupcakes get their bright red color from a ton of red food coloring. I think the original recipe calls for 6 tablespoons of it. I think you'd be safe with 4. Even that might be excessive. I found the pretty cupcake liners at Kroger. They were originally black with white curly-cues, but with the red cake, they became red and black, very festive for the occasion.


In the end, I'm not really sure that this is the most amazing cupcake I've ever had. Most of the flavoring came from the cream cheese frosting. The best part of it was the silky texture, or you could say, velvety...I'm not a huge fan, but it seemed to be pretty popular. After Valentine's Day at work, I was pretty sugared out. It'll be savory food recipes for a little while now. 


One other thing to note is that this recipe is based off of the Magnolia Bakery recipe, apparently a famous bakery that specializes in red velvet cupcakes. I got the recipe from a blog called Apron of Grace that I found on Foodgawker.


Red Velvet Cupcakes

1-1/2 cups unsalted Butter, room tempature

2-1/4 cups Sugar

3 Eggs, at room tempature

3 tablespoons Cocoa

4 tablespoons Red Food Coloring

1-1/2 teaspoons Vanilla

3 cups Cake Flour, measure after flour has been sifted

1-1/2 cups Buttermilk

1-1/2 teaspoon Salt

1-1/2 teaspoon Cider Vinegar

1-1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter on high for 3 minutes.  Slowly add sugar one tablespoon at a time.  Once all sugar is added, beat for 3 minutes.

Add eggs one at a time and beat for 3 more minutes.

Mix cocoa, food coloring and vanilla in a small bowl till smooth.  Add to butter mixture and mix well.

Mix salt with buttermilk, and alternately add buttermilk and sifted flour to butter mix until combined.  Do Not Over Mix!

Mix vinegar and soda in a small bowl and add to batter.  Stir very quickly and promptly.

Dollop into cupcake wrappers and bake for approximately 10-20 minutes.

Cool before frosting.

Yields approximately 36 cupcakes.