I love mini dessert recipes and was so thrilled to be invited to share with you the best red velvet cupcake recipe that has ever come out of my kitchen. Be certain to check out the rest of our cupcake recipes.
In the interest of full disclosure, and to give you the backstory on how these amazing red velvet cupcakes came to be, I should tell you I’m a bit of a baking nerd. I love understanding how different foods react to each other and the chemistry of baking so that I can then use that information to get the results that I want out of my baking.
Naturally, when I wanted to develop the best red velvet cupcake recipe that I could, I wanted to know more about red velvet cupcakes – how they came to have such a unique name and how the original bakers were able to get a red-colored cake without the use of red food dye.
As it turns out, the red color came from a natural reaction when natural cocoa powder mixes with buttermilk. However, most people now use “dutch process” cocoa powder in their baking, which has been chemically altered and will not have that same reaction. In order to produce a red color, most modern recipes actually reduce the amount of cocoa to allow the added red dye to come through.
It just seems wrong to me to reduce the amount of chocolate in something in order to let dye be more obvious, so I sought out a non-alkanized cocoa, which you can buy here or here.
I still use a bit of red food dye in my best red velvet cupcake recipe, but you can leave it completely out and your cake will have a red hue. (The color just won’t be asobvious as what you see in my pictures.)
The second part of the red velvet cupcake is getting that fluffy, luxurious texture so deserving of the “velvet” description. For this, you need to sift your dry ingredients and be careful not to over mix your cake.
The best red velvet cupcakes should have an airy, light texture with a light but distinct chocolate flavor mixed with the tangy richness of a not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting. Easy mini dessert.
After a bit of experimentation, I am so excited to share this recipe with you — please let me know if you also find it to be the best red velvet cupcake recipe you’ve ever made, or if you have any tweaks I should make!
(NOTE: I made these into cupcakes because I adore mini dessert recipes, but if you would prefer to make a red velvet cake, reduce the baking temperature to 350F.)
The best red velvet cupcake recipe, complete with rich cream cheese frosting
Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
2 cups yellow or light brown sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups cake flour
1/3 cup natural cocoa powder NOT "dutch process" or "special dark"
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 8 oz brick cream cheese
1 stick butter
3-4 cups icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375F.
Cream the butter and sugar for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
While still beating, add in the eggs one at a time.
Sift all of the dry ingredients into a separate bowl and stir to incorporate.
In yet another small bowl, add the vanilla and buttermilk.
Slowly add half of the dry ingredients into the wet mixture while beating, and then the buttermilk-vanilla mixture, and once fully incorporated, the final half of the dry ingredients.
Portion out into a lined cupcake pan and bake 15-20 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.
Cream cheese frosting: Wait until all ingredients are at room temperature before attempting to make the frosting.
Whip the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until completely smooth and then add in the icing sugar 1 cup at a time. I give a range because the frosting will work with either amount, so please adjust the icing sugar to your preference of sweetness. For these cupcakes, I did a simple icing job with an offset spatula and topped with some pure chocolate jimmies, but the frosting is stiff enough that you could pipe it on.
"Baking fluffy, moist cupcakes is all about creating air bubbles in your batter that expand in the oven," she says. "If you overmix your batter, you collapse those bubbles and end up with a brick-like cake." Always mix at a low speed to avoid this, stopping just as all ingredients blend.
Red velvet cakes also generally contain both buttermilk and vinegar, which, when combined with unprocessed cocoa, make for a tighter crumb texture and a tangier flavor than traditional chocolate cake.
The trick to using our Red Velvet Color when baking cakes and cupcakes is to lower the pH. Some ways to do this is by substituting baking powder in place of baking soda, using a natural non-alkalized cocoa powder, adding more white vinegar or buttermilk to your red velvet recipe, to achieve a bright red color.
Yes, you may make cakes with milk instead of water. Because fat provides richness and solidity to the cake, milk can increase the cake's moisture content and flavor. 1) Use the same quantity of milk as water called for in the recipe.
Most box cake recipes will tell you to add water to the mix. Instead, try adding milk using the same proportions. This will make the cake richer and creamier because it ups the fat content. You can even use buttermilk here for a pleasant tang.
The Best Cocoa for Red Velvet Cake Is Natural Cocoa
Natural cocoa is the best cocoa for red velvet cake for two reasons. With a higher acidity, natural cocoa works with the cake's baking soda and buttermilk to leaven the cake to a tight, tender crumb. The results are an almost melt-in-your-mouth tender cake.
If you use white cocoa powder you will not be making red velvet cake anymore. For red velvet cake you want to use natural cocoa powder or Dutch-processed. Natural will give your red coloring a vibrant appearance while the Dutch-processed powder will make it a deeper red but has the most ideal smoothness and flavor.
Baking products like sugar and butter were a part of the rations. As a result, some bakers chose to use beet juice in their cakes. You can still find red velvet cake recipes today that call for beet juice. The red color of the beets makes the cake have a more delicious appeal.
Not too much, not too little. Make sure you're mixing the cupcake batter together *just until* the wet and dry are combined. Overmixing batter, whether that's for cakes, cupcakes, breads, muffins, etc, lends a tough-textured baked good. Don't turn on the mixer then leave the room.
Flour is the main ingredient of the batter and provides the base for the cupcake. Butter or oil provides flavor, tenderizes the batter and helps provide volume.
Basically, you'll start with a high temperature and drop to a lower temperature. Try starting at 400°F for 5 minutes, then reduce to 350°F for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cupcakes are done according to the recipe directions. You'll also want to be sure to fill your cupcake tins 3/4 full with batter.
Chocolate cake is flavored with cocoa powder, chocolate chips, or melted chocolate. On the other hand, though red velvet cake has cocoa powder that gives it a slightly chocolatey flavor, the buttermilk and vinegar add a tart edge making it different between the two.
The buttermilk and vinegar give the cake that tender, light, and fluffy texture. Red velvet cake is also usually paired with white cream-cheese frosting. The white contrast highlights the lush red color, while the tanginess of the cream cheese plays off the buttermilk so well.
Many years ago, the red color came from the presence of vinegar and buttermilk reacting with the anthocyanins in traditional cocoa powder. But for most of the last few decades, the red color has been supplied by Red #40 dye, in part because cocoa powder used now is alkalized to neutralize its acidity.
🚨 An easy tip for keeping your cupcakes moist is to remove them from the pan 2 minutes after you remove them from the oven. I see so many people who let their cupcakes continue to sit in the pan. 😞 Use a cooling rack to allow the heat to rotate-so that you can keep those cakes moist ladies.
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