Red Velvet Cupcakes

In search of something to eat for lunch this past Monday afternoon, I stumbled over an unopened container of Duncan Hines Cream Cheese frosting.  “Well,” I thought to myself, “someone really ought to use this …”

I love cupcakes.  Who doesn’t love cupcakes?  And my absolute favorite kind of cupcake is Red Velvet – but I’ve never made them before!  It just so happened that we also had Ghirardelli unsweetened cacao powder in the house (no idea why), so I obviously had to give them a whirl. 

I searched for a while to find a recipe I though sounded good and settled on one I found on the website pinchmysalt.com (a really great site with beautiful food photos and recipes).  I followed the recommendation to use unsalted butter instead of shortening (staying true to that butter-loving French chef in me), and I made my own decision to use white wine vinegar in place of normal white vinegar – because everything tastes better with wine!  Actually I also like the more complex flavor of white wine vinegar, and I think it made a scrumptious substitution, so I say try it!

These cupcakes definitely weren't the easiest to make, but they were oh so worth it.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. red food coloring (two bottles)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Before we begin, A Note on Measuring Your Flour: The flour measurement for this recipe is sifted flour, meaning that you will want to sift before measuring.  I usually do this whole sifting business over the sink, since it tends to get kinda messy - I find the easiest way is to sift a bunch of flour into a big bowl, then scoop what you need.  This recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups, so start with about 2 normal cups; this should come out close to 2 1/2 sifted cups.

Ok, here we go.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line two cupcake tins (the 12-cup kind) with cupcake papers.  

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl (yes, this is the second time you'll be sifting the flour!).  In a separate bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste.  Now, when you're buying the food coloring, make sure you get the liquid, not the gel.  Trust me.  I had to drive all over half of my hometown to find the liquid stuff, but it makes all the difference.  McCormick makes 1oz. red bottles; I finally found them at the Super Wal*Mart.

3. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat butter and sugar together for about three minutes until light and fluffy (mmm mmm).  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and red paste.  Beat in one third of the flour mixture, then half the buttermilk, another third of the flour mix, the rest of the buttermilk, and finally the last of the flour mixture, blending well with each step.  During all of this beating, be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to get everything into the mix.

I think a standing mixer would have made this part a heckuva lot easier (and less messy!) but my little hand mixer worked pretty well ... just have some paper towels handy!  (Told you I want a KitchenAid mixer!)

4. Get ready to return to elementary school: in a small bowl, combine vinegar and baking soda - tiny volcano!  Stir evenly into your red mix using the spatula.  Using an ice cream scoop, pour batter into cupcake tin, filling each up 2/3 to 3/4 full.  

5. Bake 18-22 minutes.

Tip For Baking Red Velvets: Red Velvet cake is absolutely notorious for coming out dry.  I once had a really dry piece of Red Velvet cake in NYC, and it was utterly disappointing.  The trick is to really stay on top of your cupcakes; check them at about 18 minutes, and then on the minute using the if-the-toothpick-comes-out-clean-then-they're-done trick.  Mine took 19 minutes and 30 seconds (and came out beautifully moist).  So!  Keep a careful eye on them.  

Cool cupcakes in tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes, remove and then cool completely before frosting.  I, of course, used the cream cheese frosting I found in the pantry.  You could also make your own; there are lots of recipes on the internets.  I added little red sugar sprinkle, just for fun.     

It's not the easiest recipe and they do take some attention, but they are so worth it!