Little Red Velvet Cupcakes

The first time I've ever heard or tasted of Red Velvet cake was from this place called Patisserie Caroline.  I had no idea what went into a red velvet cake and why it was made red in the first place.

I do remember though, loving my first red velvet experience.  I looooved the cream cheese icing because it was genius! haha the flavors just complemented each other very well.

I've tried a recipe before by Laura Vitale but I thought it was too sweet for my taste.  Then Chef John of Food Wishes and I used his recipe to make a batch.

So you'll need these ingredients for 12 Red Velvet Cupcakes:

Dry:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine salt (skip the salt if you're using salted butter)
1 teaspoon baking powder

Wet:
4 tablespoons softened butter
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon red food coloring or depends on the color of red to your liking

Just mix together the wet, then mix together the dry, then mix only by hand to avoid over mixing.  I actually only used 3/4 cup of sugar instead of a cup, but realized I should have used 1 cup instead.  Never the less, they still tasted good.

A tip for buttermilk, if you can't find buttermilk, you can use 1 cup of milk and add a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice, set it aside until it bubbles. This will make your cup cakes moist. 

Bake at 350 for about 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Make sure not to over bake it too because this will cause for it to dry up.  Once you start seeing the cupcake cracking, cover it with aluminum foil then continue baking.

Cream cheese frosting is the best for red velvet cake, although other recipes use butter cream icing which I think does not qualify as red velvet, but hey, I'm just a lady with a spoon with very strong opinion on red velvet cream cheese frosting. For me, if ain't cream cheese, it ain't right.

Here's a recipe of cream cheese frosting by Martha Stewart

You'll need:

1/2 cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 

6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
 pound (2 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/3 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, ½ cup at a time, and then vanilla, and mix until smooth and combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

You can also mix by hand, you can use the wire whisk and a spatula instead of the electric mixer, just make sure your cream cheese is really soft and in room temperature.

If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 3 days in an airtight container; before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again.