Cupcake Recipes: Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcake Recipe: Red Velvet Cupcakes

The Red Velvet Cake or Cupcake is a cake with a dark red, bright red, or red-brown color.  Originally, the reddish brown color comes from the reaction of the chocolate to an acidic substance like buttermilk.  The cake is mostly chocolate flavored but it can also just be plain vanilla.  It is then topped with a white frosting that can either be a white Buttercream frosting or a Cream Cheese Frosting.  A Cream Cheese frosting is better suited since there is not much flavor in the cake itself.

The reference to the word "velvet" is to associate the cake with luxury and also to describe the cake's texture which is suppose to be smooth and silky just like the fabric.  In this recipe, the use of vegetable oil instead of butter makes this Red Velvet Cupcake recipe smooth and fluffy.  Get the recipe after the jump.

Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2/3 cups        Vegetable oil (Marca Leon Vegetable Oil)

1 2/3 cups        Light brown Sugar

3 Large            Eggs

2 teaspoon       Vanilla extract

2 teaspoon       White Vinegar (Silver Swan Sukang Puti)

3 teaspoon       Red Food Coloring (McCormick Bright Red)

2 2/3 cups        All Purpose Flour

1 ½ Tablespoon           Baking Powder (Calumet Baking powder)

1 teaspoon       Baking Soda (Arm and Hammer Baking Soda)

1 teaspoon       Iodized Salt

For the Buttermilk:

1 cup               Fresh Milk (Alaska Fresh Milk)

1 Tablespoon   White Vinegar (Silver Swan Sukang Puti)

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz.                Cream cheese (1 bar) (Philadelphia Cream Cheese)

¼ cup              Unsalted Butter (Magnolia)

1 teaspoon       Vanilla Extract

1/2 Tablespoon            Fresh Lemon Juice or Calamansi Juice

2 Cups             Confectioner’s Sugar

Reddish-Brown Color:

2 Tablespoon   Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

2 teaspoon       Ground Nutmet (Optional)

How to make Red Velvet Cupcakes

Method:

Step 1: Prepare Ingredients and setup Oven

-          Measure ingredients and set aside.

-          Sift dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, nutmeg) into a bowl and set aside.

-          Combine milk and white vinegar for buttermilk in a bowl.  Set aside and let curdle for 5 minutes.

-          Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C)

Step 2: Preparing the Cake batter

-          In a mixing bowl, combine vegetable oil and brown sugar in medium speed.

-          Mix in eggs one at a time.

-          Add vanilla extract, white vinegar, and food colouring.  Mix on low speed until the mixture is uniformly red.

-          Add the dry ingredients alternately with the Buttermilk mixture (3 pouring of dry ingredients with 2 pouring of buttermilk mixture).  Mix until well combined.

Step 3: Baking the Cupcakes

-          Lay out baking cups in cupcake tray.

-          Scoop batter into baking trays filling each cup ¾ of the way. 

-          Bake in oven for 12-15 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

-          Take baking tray out of the oven when done and leave cupcakes in tray to cool for 7-10 minutes.

-          Transfer cupcakes into wire rack and set aside to completely cool down.

(This recipe produces around 30 pieces of 2 oz. cupcakes or 28 pieces of 3oz cupcakes)

Step 4:  Frosting

-          Soften Cream Cheese and Butter in room temperature before making frosting.

-          Mix Cream Cheese and Butter until well combined. 

-          Add vanilla extract and Lemon or Calamansi juice.  Mix.

-          Add confectioner’s sugar a little at a time continuously mixing to make the mixture fluffy.  Use frosting right away or refrigerate for use later.  After refrigeration, mix for a while to restore fluffiness.

-          Pipe into cupcakes or simply spread on top of cupcakes using a spatula.

-          Serve.

Bright Red - Red Velvet Cupcake

Since I used a bright red food coloring, I had to add cocoa powder to achieve the reddish brown color you see in the pictures.  Adding the cocoa powder makes the cake a little heavy.  If you prefer a lighter and brighter cupcake, just leave out the cocoa powder.  The nutmeg is also optional.  I added it to add flavor and aroma to my cupcake.

Red Velvet Cakes and cupcakes are gaining a lot of popularity nowadays.  It’s becoming a staple in coffee shops, dessert shops, and restaurants.  It’s a recipe that you must have in your baking arsenal.  Have fun baking and enjoy eating these delicious cakes!  There’s nothing like the look of your 8-year-old nephew gobbling up the cupcakes one after another (to think he said that he was on a diet!) – PRICELESS!

Velvety Smooth RED VELVET CUPCAKES