Red Velvet Cupcakes

I was in a cupcake mood this weekend. I wasn’t in the mood to eat them, just make them. As you can see, I did take a bite out of that one above. I looked on foodtv.com and found Paula Deen’s red velvet cupcake recipe.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

• 2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 tsp. cocoa powder (the recipe called for 1 tsp., but I remember someone saying that there was no distinct taste to red velvet cakes and so I added more cocoa powder for flavor and it helped)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
• 1 c. buttermilk, room temperature
• 1.5 tubes of red gel food coloring (apparently, I can only find the gel food coloring at the grocery now and for the redness, I needed 1.5 tubes. use 2 tbsp. if you can find the liquid food coloring still)
• 1 tsp. white distilled vinegar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the cream cheese icing

• 16 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened (it wouldn’t be a Paula Deen recipe without the butter)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 c. confectioners sugar, sifted
• sprinkles, pecans, choco chips, strawberries or whatever else you’d like to garnish the cupcakes with

*Note: If you’re not a fan of tons of icing, you might want to cut this recipe in half. I had a little leftover, but the kids wanted tons of icing. Someone commented and said it was much more than what they needed, so I figure I’d put that info. here.*

Procedure

• Prehead oven to 350 degrees farenheit
• In one bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt together
• In another bowl, mix the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar & vanilla on med to low speed
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth & well combined
• Pour batter into cupcake paper/pan and fill each about 2/3
• Bake in oven for 20-22 min. turning the pans once at the halfway mark. Test cupcakes with toothpick to see if done.
• Remove from oven and completely cool before frosting

Cream Cheese Icing

• In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth. It helps if you’ve got an electric mixer. Add the confectioners sugar and continue to mix on low speed. When the sugar is incorporated, change the mixer speed to high and mix until light & fluffy

Add your toppings and then it’s all ready to eat. ^__^ It was fun making them, but it took a long time. My first 12 cupcakes were more like pink velvet rather than red because I didn’t use enough food coloring. If you’re pressed for time, I’d say stick with the Duncan Hines red velvet cake mix and then make your own icing. heh.

–Chelle