Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

My neighbor approached me asking if I would be willing to make cupcakes for her daughter’s surprise baby shower.

“Cupcakes that won’t just be sitting around the house, asking for me to eat them all? Umyes.”

Then she asked if I would make 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 chocolate, with a mix of pink and blue frosting.

“That’s adorable, and easy. Of course!”

And then she told me her daughter’s wedding cake was her favorite, red velvet and I jumped at the chance to make what is also my favorite cake.

“LET ME MAKE RED VELVET INSTEAD!”

You’ve seen me do my favorite red velvet and cream cheese frosting combination before – but this time I tweaked it to make them a little less dense than your normal red velvet cake. How, you ask? By using melted butter instead of oil, and only two eggs instead of three. I really prefer it that way when they’re in cupcake form – I don’t want a heavy, oily cupcakes where wrapper is soaked through. Gross.

While I’m sure they didn’t hold a candle to the professional cake her daughter had on her wedding day, I hope these were acceptable. I think if nothing else, they were cute enough. Just look at them!

How cute are the little cupcake picks? They’re the perfect, adorable addition to a baby shower.The mommy-to-be isn’t finding out if it’s a boy or a girl until the day it arrives, so the different color choices worked out well to mix things up. 

I didn’t have any fun colored cupcake wrappers around (sadface), so I just had to stick with the basic white. But since they’re red velvet cake I don’t mind that much – red velvet is just so pretty on its own. 

Congratulations to the soon-to-be new parents!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

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• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 18 cupcakes
• Category: Dessert

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Description

Rich in color and flavor, this moist red velvet cake is topped with a slightly sweet, tangy cream cheese frosting that’s perfect for any occasion!

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Ingredients

• Cupcakes
• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring (more if desired)
• Frosting
• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 ounces butter, room temperature
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Instructions

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two muffin pans with 18 liners and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In another large bowl, combine eggs, butter, buttermilk, vinegar and vanilla extract.
4. Add flour mixture to wet mixture and beat on medium-high speed until mostly combined.
5. Add food coloring (more if you want a deeper red color) and beat again until well combined.
6. In your prepared pan, fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
7. Place on wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

1. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese and butter and beat on medium/high speed until smooth.
2. Add vanilla extract. Now reduce the mixer speed to a low and gradually add powdered sugar until frosting forms stiff peaks. Taste test – if you want it sweeter, add more powdered sugar. If you want less cream cheese flavor and more vanilla, add a little more vanilla extract.
3. If you want to color the frosting, now’s the time to do it. I recommend using soft gel paste food coloring as it doesn’t thin out your frosting the way normal food coloring gel does. Add a drop of color at a time and beat well until you reach the desired color. If you want to do multiple colors, just divide out your frosting into different bowls and beat the desired color into each individually.
4. Frost cupcakes generously and enjoy!

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