DIY Red Velvet Cupcakes

Now this is a true story but I never tasted red velvet cupcakes until I baked them one day. I was like 'what's all the fuss?' with this little thing so I decided to try it out. 

Photo from: http://gimmesomeoven.com/red-velvet-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting/

I used Joy of Baking's recipe. This isn't my picture though but it looks a lot like it! I couldn't take a good picture of it because I'm still not very good at designing. I make really good FUNCTIONAL cakes though. It serves its sweet purpose. 

For cupcakes: 

Makes 12

Group A:

1 1/4 c. or 125 g. cake flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. Dutch-processed cocoa

Group B: 

1/4 c. or 57 g. unsalted butter (at room temp for 30 minutes)

150 g. White Sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Group C: 

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 tbsp. red food coloring

Group D: 

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. distilled white vinegar

1. Line muffin tin and preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.

2. Sift Group A together and whisk them together. 

3. Cream butter & sugar for 10 minutes (KitchenAid mixer Speed 4). Add egg and vanilla and mix for 30 seconds (KitchenAid mixer Speed 6). 

4. Mix Group C together. 

5. Add Group A and Group C to creamed mixture alternately in three additions, starting and ending with Group A. 

6.  Combine Group D. Let it finish fizzing before folding into batter. 

7. Scoop to the muffin tin evenly and bake for 18-23 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. 

8. Cool in tin for 10 minutes before putting in the cooling rack. 

9. Cool for an hour before putting frosting. 

Ingredient Substitution:

Cake Flour (1 c.)
2 tbsp. corn starch + all purpose flour (to make 1 c.)

Buttermilk (1 c.)
1 tbsp. vinegar + skim milk (to make 1 c.) Let stand for 5 minutes.

Photo from: http://nasilemaklover.blogspot.com/2012/01/red-velvet-cake-cupcakes-with-cream.html

For the cream cheese frosting:

8 oz. chilled cream cheese (cut into pieces in you're using a handmixer)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. or 60 g. powdered sugar
2/3 c. or 160 ml. chilled heavy cream

1. Whisk cream cheese for 10 minutes (KitchenAid Speed 4).
2. Add vanilla and powdered sugar, whisk until well-mixed.
3. Add cream and whisk until thick enough to pipe.

Ingredient substitution


Heavy cream
Use all-purpose cream.

Review:

I just love this recipe! It's simple and it's really good. Although, I just made 11 cupcakes out of it. I should learn how to distribute scoops evenly. 

As for the frosting, it's really good but it's too much for me and my family. We love sugar as much as the next person but we don't really need large swirls of cream cheese frosting. So the next time I'm making this, I'm cutting the recipe in half or I'll make two batches of cupcakes. 

And if you're worried about your waistline, Starbuck's red velvet cake makes 430 calories. Baking can burn 168 to 348 calories according to this site. If you're using a KitchenAid mixer or a  hand-mixer, we can safely assume we burn 168 calories - I mean we will still be cleaning the kitchen up while waiting for the cupcakes to bake. While waiting for the cupcakes to cool, scrub a bathroom and you've already offset the 'caloric damage' of a red velvet cupcake.   

Happy baking!