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Charlene’s Red Velvet Cupcakes

December 15, 2013 10 Comments

The first time I made red velvet cake was in back in law school, around the time I started this blog. It was my friend Jill’s birthday, and red velvet was her favorite, so I decided to surprise her with a homemade birthday cake. I hadn’t made a lot of non-box mix cakes at that point, but I figured it couldn’t be too hard. After all, red velvet cake was basically just chocolate cake with a ton of red food coloring, right?

Wrong. So very wrong.

The cake was a disaster.

I used a basic chocolate cake recipe, which would have been fine, but I really wanted a gorgeous red cake so I kept adding more and more food coloring to the batter. As it turns out, it takes a lot of food coloring to turn a dark brown cake red. So yeah…the end result was a semi-red cake that tasted like chemicals and made Jill poop red for a week. Gross, on so many levels.

From then on out, I avoided all red velvet cake recipes. I had to hide my shame. Can’t have everyone thinking I’m such a great baker after all these years and then destroying their impression of me with another red poop-inducing cake bomb, you know?

SHAMMMMEEEE. Shammmmeeeeeeee.

I would have been content to only eat red velvet cakes and cupcakes made for me by pros for the rest of my life but this past summer I got it in my head that I needed red velvet cupcakes at my wedding (red was one of my colors!). Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any bakery near our venue that made tasty yet reasonably priced cupcakes (when did cupcakes get so @#$!% expensive???), so…it was time to face my personal baking Mt. Everest.

Enter: Charlene, my awesome bridesmaid, who not only housed 90% of the wedding party at her new house and took a day off from work to help me bake 300 cupcakes for the wedding, but also generously shared her kick ass red velvet cupcake recipe with me.

Seriously guys, this recipe is amazing – even with me involved, the cupcakes turned out moist, tender, gorgeously red, and super yummy.

All my wedding guests raved about them (no red poops that I know of)! And, unlike the lemon cupcakes we also made for the wedding, this recipe is straightforward, easy, fuss-free, and doesn’t involve zesting and juicing a billion lemons. I’d say this is a keeper, don’t you?

I’m still riding high from my success with the wedding cupcakes, so I decided it was safe to make these cupcakes again this weekend for my friend Robin’s holiday party. Happy to report that attempt #2 was also a success. I didn’t get to try one myself, but Robin’s guests all seemed to like them. And you know, I never really thought of red velvet cakes/cupcakes as being particularly festive, but their colors really are very Christmasy. Beautiful, dark red cakes piled high with creamy white frosting and sprinkled with shiny white pearl sprinkles – I think Santa would definitely approve, don’t you?

** It’s rare that I follow recipes exactly, but Charlene has spent years perfecting this recipe and it’s amazing, so here’s her recipe verbatim.

Print
Charlene's Red Velvet Cupcakes
Author: justputzing
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep time:  10 mins
Cook time:  2 hours
Total time:  2 hours 10 mins
Yields: 24
 
The best red velvet cupcakes I have ever tasted
Ingredients
Cupcakes
  • 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1-1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1-1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tbsp red food coloring
  • 1 tsp white distilled vinegar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
  • 1 pound cream cheese, softened
  • 2 sticks butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.
  2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.
  3. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer.
  4. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.
  5. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins (tins should be about ⅔ filled).
  6. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. (Bake for ~13 minutes for mini-cupcakes.)
  7. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness.
  8. Remove cupcakes from oven and cool completely.
  9. While your cupcakes are cooling, combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together in a large bowl and beat until smooth.
  10. Add the powdered sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated.
  11. Increase the speed of your beaters/mixer to high and mix until frosting is whiter in color and very light/fluffy.
  12. Spoon your frosting into a piping bag with your piping tip of choice (I used a large round tip from Bake It Pretty), and pipe thick swirls of frosting on top of each cooled cupcake.
  13. Sprinkle with white pearl sprinkles (optional), then enjoy at least one immediately.
3.2.1284

 

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Filed Under: Chocolate, Cupcake, Dessert, Frosting, Holiday Tagged With: chocolate treat, cupcakes, party

Comments

  1. Mimi @ Culinary Couture says

    December 16, 2013 at 12:42 am

    I have been looking for a good red velvet cupcake recipe! Thank you!

    Reply
    • justputzing says

      December 16, 2013 at 11:11 am

      Awesome! Hope the recipe turns out well for you 🙂

      Reply
  2. Marie says

    September 26, 2014 at 6:02 am

    The photos look mouthwateringly delicious. I bet they taste as good. Gonna try it out this weekend.

    Reply
    • justputzing says

      September 26, 2014 at 8:55 am

      Thanks! Let me know how you like them 😀

      Reply
  3. Tessa says

    December 18, 2014 at 11:20 am

    I just made these cupcakes and they are by far THE BEST red velvet cupcakes I’ve ever tasted or made (And I’ve made lots, and I’ve tried many recipes!)
    OMG!! I will never search again, my search is over!! Thank you so much for sharing!!

    Reply
    • justputzing says

      December 18, 2014 at 5:14 pm

      I’m so glad you liked them!!!! They’re my favorite red velvet cupcakes too 🙂

      Reply
  4. Tessa says

    December 18, 2014 at 11:32 am

    I just made these cupcakes and they are THE BEST red velvet cupcakes I’ve ever tasted or made (And I’ve tasted a lot and tried a lot of recipes) These are amazing!
    My search is over!! Thank you for sharing

    Reply
    • justputzing says

      December 18, 2014 at 12:33 pm

      I’m so glad you liked them!!!! They’re my favorite red velvet cupcakes too 🙂

      Reply

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Hi! I'm Tina - D.C. based attorney, lover of reality and food-related television, stress-eater, and unabashed fantasy/sci-fi dork. Read More…

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