Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Today I am here with Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. These are red colored, soft velvety cakes with mild chocolate flavor. I love red velvet cakes and while living in US, I would bake them using box mix and have never tried making it from scratch. But it has been on my 'to bake' list for a longtime. Finally I baked these cupcakes today and it came out very well - so soft and velvety. The frosting which is light, fluffy and not overly sweet, makes the cupcake even more delightful. Be it Christmas or Valentine's day, these cupcakes are perfect for both the occasions because of their beautiful red color. Who doesn't like cupcakes with beautiful color and flavor?

Recipe Source : Joy of Baking

Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Red colored, soft velvety cupcakes with mild chocolate flavor. The cream cheese frosting which is light, fluffy and not overly sweet, makes the cupcakes even more delightful.
Prep time: 15 mins  Baking time: 20 mins  Total time (*not* including decorating time): 35 mins
Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients :

For Red Velvet Cupcakes

• Cake flour : 1 1/4 cup
• Unsweetened cocoa powder : 1 1/2 tablespoons
• Baking powder : 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt : 1/4 teaspoon
• Unsalted butter : 1/4 cup
• Granulated white sugar : 3/4 cup
• Egg : 1 No
• Vanilla extract : 1 teaspoon
• Butter milk : 1/2 cup
• Red food color : as needed
• Distilled white vinegar : 1/2 teaspoon
• Baking soda : 1/2 teaspoon

For Cream Cheese Frosting

• Cream cheese : 1/2 cup
• Unsalted butter : 1/4 cup
• Confectioner's sugar / powdered sugar : 2 cup
• Heavy whipping cream : 2 tablespoons
• Vanilla extract : 1/2 teaspoon

Instructions :

Red Velvet Cupcakes :

1. Preheat the oven to 175C / 350F. Prepare the cupcake pan by lining it with cupcake liners and keep it ready.
2. In a bowl, sift together, cake flour, cocoa powder, Baking powder and salt and keep it aside.
3. In another bowl, beat butter well, then add sugar and beat well. Then add egg and vanilla extract and beat well.
4. In a cup mix red food color to the butter milk till you get a bright red color.
5. Now add this butter milk to butter mixture little by little alternating with flour mixture. Mix well till smooth batter is formed.
6. In a separate small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda together. A fizz is formed, immediately add it to the cake batter and mix well. This is done to leaven the cake (to get soft velvety texture).
7. Equally divide the batter into the prepared cupcake pan.
8. Bake for 15 - 17 minutes till the cupcake is done (to check insert a cake tester or tooth pick in the center of the cupcake and it has to come out clean).
9. Remove from the pan from the oven and let it cool completely.

Cream cheese frosting :

1. Beat cream cheese well. Then add butter and beat well.
2. To this add confectioners sugar little by little and keep beating till the sugar is fully incorporated.
3. Then add vanilla extract and beat.
4. Finally add 2 tablespoons of cold whipping cream and beat well till the frosting is fluffy.
5. Now cream cheese frosting is ready.

Assembly :

1. The cupcakes should be completely cooled before frosting.
2. Using a spatula spread the frosting on the cupcakes generously. If you prefer, you can fill the frosting in piping bag, attach required nozzle and pipe the frosting on the cupcakes.
3. Additionally, you can add some sprinkles on the cupcakes as shown in my pictures.

Notes:

• If you don't have cake flour, you can substitute it with All purpose flour and Corn starch in the following ratio. For one cup of cake flour - Take a cup of All purpose flour, remove 2 Tablespoon of flour from it and add 2 Tablespoons of Corn flour to it and sift it together well and use.
  
• If you don't have butter milk, you can use the following as a substitute. For 1/2 cup of butter milk - add 1 teaspoon of vinegar to 1/2 cup of milk, keep it aside for 5 minutes and use it.
• Make sure all the ingredients are room temperature.
• For the red color, you can use both liquid color and gel color but make sure it is bake stable. Then add enough quantity to get a bright red color. Keep in mind that the color will fade while baking.
• Once the baking soda and vinegar mixture is added, you have to act fast. Mix the batter well and add the batter to cupcake pan and bake it.
• If the batter rests for sometime, then the cake won't rise as much. So if you are planning to make a big batch, plan accordingly. Cannot prepare the batter all at once then bake one batch and bake another later. That is not going to work out well.
• This cake will rise well. So fill the batter about 1/2 to 2/3 of each cup in the cupcake pan, not more than that.
• Since , I planned on to apply the frosting by spatula, the amount of frosting I got as per the recipe was enough. But if you are planning to pipe it, you might want to increase it as per your design.
• If the cupcake is not frosted it can sit in room temperature for a day, later than that it has to refrigerated.
• After frosting the cupcakes, it has to be consumed immediately or can be stored in refrigerator to consume later. If kept in room temperature, the frosting might become runny.

Cupcakes Baked and Clicked by Divya Prakash