Vibrant and festive red velvet cupcakes combine moist cake with classic cream cheese frosting for a stunning individually-sized dessert. Easy to make and fun to decorate with a swirl of frosting and cake crumbles!
What You Need to Make This Recipe
All-Purpose Flour – weigh your flour using a food scale for the most accurate measurement. For the best fluffy and light cupcakes, don’t forget to sift all dry ingredients.
Cocoa Powder – a high-quality cocoa powder offers the most flavor. Increase or decrease the amount of cocoa powder to personalize how chocolatey you want your cupcakes.
Butter – allow the unsalted butter for both the cupcakes and the cream cheese frosting to come to room temperature before using. Room-temperature butter will blend smoothly and make for more fluffy cupcakes and frosting.
Vanilla Extract – balances the chocolate flavor and adds to this recipe’s signature flavor. Substitute vanilla bean paste if you prefer.
Buttermilk – buttermilk is a staple ingredient in red velvet cake and helps give the cupcakes their signature flavor and texture because the buttermilk reacts with both the baking soda and baking powder. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own sour milk with 1 cup whole milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar.
Cream Cheese – full-fat cream cheese makes the richest cream cheese frosting. You can use reduced-fat cream cheese if you prefer, but be sure to use block-style cream cheese, not whipped or spreadable cream cheese.
How to Make Red Velvet Cupcakes
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place 16 cupcake liners in cupcake pans. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda together. Add the salt and give it a whisk to combine.
2. Cut the room-temperature butter into tablespoon-sized pieces, then add to the flour mixture. Using a paddle attachment, mix on low until a sandy mixture forms.
3. In another bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and food coloring. Use 1 to 2 tablespoons of liquid food coloring or 5 to 6 drops of gel food coloring.
4. Whisk the wet ingredients together until a consistent color is achieved.
5. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients while mixing on low speed. Mix until combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
6. Distribute the batter evenly into cupcake papers. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until springy to the touch. Let cool for a few minutes in the pans then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
7. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the room-temperature cream cheese, vanilla, and salt to the creamed butter. Beat together on medium speed until well combined. Scrape down the bowl. With the mixer on low speed, add the sifted confectioners’ sugar a cup at a time. Mix until combined. If you want a stiffer buttercream, keep adding more sifted confectioners’ sugar until it’s the desired texture, or chill the frosting for a few minutes before piping.
8. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a star tip and pipe large dollops on top of each cooled cupcake.
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