Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

It’s almost Christmas and what better way to celebrate, than baking some red velvet cupcakes. “The tender buttermilk cake has just a couple of tablespoons of cocoa, which adds just a hint of chocolate” (Laidlaw 161). These are great to share with family and friends because this recipe says it makes up to 12 cupcakes. Baking is a fun hobby and it reduces all the stress that is happening in your busy lives. This is a sweet treat to eat during the holidays!

This is a two-part recipe: one for the red velvet cupcakes and one for the cream cheese frosting.

The ingredients are:

• 1 ¼ Cups Cake Flour

• 2 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

• ¾ Tsp Baking Powder

• ¼ Tsp Kosher Salt

• ½ Cup Buttermilk

• 1 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

• ½ Tsp White Vinegar

• 4 Drops Red Food Coloring

• ¾ Cup Sugar

• 4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter

• 1 Large Egg

Cream Cheese Frosting

• ½ lb Cream Cheese (at cool room temperature)

• ¼ cup Unsalted Butter (at cool room temperature)

• 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

• 1 cup Confectioners’ Sugar (sifted)

Directions:

1. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt together into a bowl.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vanilla, vinegar, and red food coloring.
3. In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and beat to combine.
4. Add half the dry ingredients, then the buttermilk mixture, and finally the remaining dry ingredients, beating on low speed until combined.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 standard muffin cups with liners or grease with butter and dust with flour.
6. Divide the batter between the muffin cups, filling them nearly full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 17-20 minutes.
7. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Then transfer the cupcakes to the rack and let it cool completely, for about 1 hour.
8. To make the frosting, in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, for about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in the sugar and continue to mix until thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
9. Use right away, or, if the consistency is too soft, refrigerate the frosting until it is spreadable, 10-15 minutes. The frosting will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
10. Finally, spread a thick layer of frosting on each cupcake and serve. Enjoy!

Overall, I had baked 9 cupcakes in total with the batter that I had left. This took me twice as long to bake (2 Hours) than the chocolate chip cookies I had baked last week which only took about 1 hour. But I would have to agree with this book that the cream cheese frosting is the best part of this whole cupcake (Laidlaw 161). In the end, the cupcake color was not what I was expecting to have. It turned out to be more light brown than dark red because of the two tablespoons of Cocoa Powder the recipe told me to add in. But, all in all, I am glad that I got to bake in the kitchen even though it got a little messy with the electric mixer flying flour and sugar everywhere! J Have fun baking!

Have you ever tried baking something and it didn’t turn out as what you were expecting it to be? What are some ways you tried to fix it?

Citation: Laidlaw, Kim, and Erin Kunkel. Dessert of the Day. San Francisco, CA: Weldon Owen, 2013. Print.