Red Velvet: Cupcakes Edition

Back in September of 2010, it was my godbrother's birthday, so in the 2 hours that was before the dinner, I decided to whip up some cupcakes for him.  I've been eying the red velvet recipe, so I decided to give it a whirl.  And this is my result:

Red Velvet cakes existed before the advent of food coloring.  Someone discovered that by mixing vinegar and cocoa powder together, it makes red!  Today, red food coloring is added to enhance the redness, otherwise, it will be a deep reddish-brown color.



The recipe is from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book.  Let's get down to business.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

From Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

2 ½ cups cake flour

2 tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Fry's)

1 tsp salt

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ cups vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temperature

½ tsp red gel-paste food color

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

2 tsp distilled white vinegar

Makes 24

      1.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.

      2.  Whisk together cake flour, cocoa, and salt

      3.  With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined.

      4.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

      5.  Mix in food color and vanilla

      6.   Reduce speed to low.  Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and whisking well after each.

      7.   Stir together baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will foam); add mixture to the batter, and mix on medium speed for 10 seconds.

      8.   Divide batter evenly among lined cup, filling each ¾ full

      9.   Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean.

     10.  Transfer to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

     11.  Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature or frozen up to 2 month, in airtight containers

Topped with vanilla frosting and sprinkles 

Again, as per usual, Meow Mother complained about it being sweet.  Which is a total lie.

I found these gorgeous cupcake wraps at Michael's so I was really

impatient about putting them to use.