Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet cake. It's something I had never tried yet saw pop up everywhere - recipe mags, Food Network shows, other food blogs. Even Bobby Flay had a cupcake throwdown where the challenged baker's most famous cupcake was her red velvet. I knew sooner rather than later I would give into the desire of trying these out for myself. That time was this past weekend. I made a long one of it taking Tuesday off to make it a 4 day-er and since I had some downtime I couldn't wait to start baking.


I used a recipe for Red Velvet cupcakes from my friend Danielle of Make No Little Meals. She made mini-cupcakes but instead I went for jumbo cupcakes. That's right, I baked them right in my jumbo muffin pan! Ok, well, I actually didn't own a jumbo muffin pan until about a week ago when I decided that since I've always wanted one and these cupcakes would be the perfect excuse to finally invest in it! I actually halved Danielle's recipe (the full recipe appears below) and it made 6 perfectly sized jumbo cupcakes (which took about 26 minutes to bake).


For the frosting, I opted for a typical cream cheese frosting consisting of cream cheese (duh), confectioner's sugar, butter, and vanilla extract.


So, what was the verdict on red velvet cupcakes??? Yummy! I actually may bake another batch this weekend!


Red Velvet Cake
(from Confetti Cakes)

3 ½-cups cake flour
½-cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½-teaspoons salt
2-cups canola oil
2 ¼-cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/3-cup red food coloring
1 ½-teaspoons vanilla
1 ¼-cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 ½-teaspoons white vinegar
Preparations:

Preheat oven to 350* and prepare pans accordingly.

In a large bowl sift together the flour and cocoa, set aside. In a stand mixer with your paddle attachment, combine the oil and the sugar on medium until combined.

Set mixer to low, add the eggs one at a time. Add the food coloring and vanilla slowly until incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture and the buttermilk—alternating, beginning with the flour. Mix until well combined.

While batter is mixing, whisk vinegar and the baking soda together in a small bowl. Immediately add this mixture to the batter, speed set to medium and blend for only about 10-seconds.

Divide batter into pans and bake until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 20-minutes before removing from pan.