Red Velvet Cupcakes with a Surprising Cream Cheese Frosting
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I love making cupcakes, but I am no good at decorating them. That’s why I kind of avoid them. But when it comes to red velvet cupcakes, I’m a fool who’ll put myself right out there.
Me and red velvet go back. It was my comfort food of choice in college. I’d pick up a slice at the bakery when it was a bad day, or if there was something to celebrate. And when we got married, my husband told the bakery we were most definitely getting red velvet for me.
I’m sure you’ve had a red velvet cake at some point in your life. Maybe you thought, “Yeah… this is okay.” Or maybe you’re a red-velvet-lover like me, and the flavor can do you no wrong. Either way, I think you’ll enjoy my variation.
Perfectly Moist Red Velvet Cupcakes
If you remember back to my post on chocolate cake, you’ll remember I attempted a year ago to make it red velvet and failed miserably. This year, I got it to turn out just right. The key is patience.
So, basically, the cake recipe is the same as my twist on the Bon Appetit Chocolate Cake. The difference is adding in red food coloring at the right stage. I say that because for some reason, when I added it in at the very end, the cake turned out dry. But mixing it in really well with the wet ingredients at the beginning gave me a really moist result.
How to Make Your Cake Batter
As a refresher, here’s how we make the cake batter. Start with a 2 cup glass measuring cup, and add in your vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and red food coloring. You’ll whisk that together until it’s homogenous and really red.
Then, get a small sauté pan going with your milk. You want it to have little wisps of steam coming off it by the time you finish the rest of the cake mix.
In a large mixing bowl, you’ll combine your flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. I sift these together and then whisk in the brown sugar. Brown sugar just doesn’t go through the mesh sieve very well.
Once your dry ingredients are sifted, you’ll mix in the wet ingredients. This is going to feel really wrong because it will come out the texture of spackle. That’s right; don’t worry.
At this point, your milk should be just warm enough that it is starting to steam but isn’t simmering. So, pour that into your cake mix and gently stir it together. Now, your batter looks ridiculously loose, but again, that is right.
Making a Better Cream Cheese Frosting
The second thing I played with was echoing the flavor of white chocolate cheesecake in my cream cheese frosting. Usually, a basic cream cheese frosting is a little flat with the tang of the cream cheese simply combined with the sweetness from the powdered sugar.
In this recipe, we’ll use a similar process to our chocolate cake’s easy icing. Start by heating your milk on the stove, again, until it has wisps of steam coming off it.
Have your white chocolate waiting in a medium-sized bowl (so you can use it for mixing later). You’ll pour the hot milk over your chocolate. Give it a minute to get acquainted. Then, stir gently until all the chocolate is melted.
Let it cool on the counter until it’s room temperature before putting it in the fridge at all. This precaution is to make sure I don’t shock my white chocolate. It is notorious for becoming grainy. If you do it right, it will get really nice and thick.
Then, to make your frosting, you’ll add room temperature cream cheese to your ganache. Beat this until it’s well combined, and then add in powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Whip it for another couple of minutes to add in air for a fluffy frosting.
Frosting Your Red Velvet Cupcakes
I said I’m not one for decorating cupcakes like a pro, and this icing is not one for helping you look like Candace Nelson. It’s not a buttercream so it won’t hold a cute piped design. But lordy is it perfect anyway.
So, embrace the texture of your icing. Go ahead and fill a piping bag to frost your cupcakes. I use a large round tip. Aim in perpendicularly over the center of your cake and slowly pull it up to form a dome of frosting. It comes out smooth and lovely.
Pipe as much frosting on each cupcake as you wish. This recipe makes a fair amount of it. I put what I consider a lot of frosting on each, but I still have leftovers.
To decorate, I am a fan of some simple sprinkles. Nothing too crazy or elaborate. But, then again, (like I said) I’m not the queen of cupcake decorating. So, if you have some beautiful cupcakes at the end of this, please share your pictures with me! I’d love to see.
The Red Velvet Cupcake Tool Kit
Here are the tools I recommend having to make your red velvet cupcakes:
- Medium Mixing Bowl
- Fine Mesh Sieve
- Small Saucepan
- 12-Cup Muffin Pan
- Piping Bags
- Large Round Piping Tip
- Valentine’s Sprinkles!
Comment below if you have questions, concerns, or opinions. And tag me @ellejayathome on Instagram or Twitter if you share pictures from any of my recipes. I love to hear from you!
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- 12-cup muffin pan
- Cupcake liners
- Medium mixing bowl
- Fine mesh sieve
- 2 cup glass measuring cup
- Small saucepan
- Small heatproof bowl
- Electric hand mixer
Ingredients
Red Velvet Cupcakes
- 1⅓ cup all purpose flour
- 1¼ cup light brown sugar
- 1¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp pink himalayan sea salt
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder not dutch process
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp liquid red food coloring
- 1 cup whole milk
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Ganache Frosting
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 4 oz cream cheese room temperature
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp pink himalayan sea salt
Instructions
Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line your cupcake pan with paper liners. Give them a little spray nonstick spray if you want (this is optional).
- Set a small saucepan over medium heat, and pour the milk in while you mix your other ingredients. Watch for wisps of steam to rise from it.
- In your large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk in the brown sugar.
- In your 2 cup measuring glass, whisk together the oil, eggs, vanilla, and food coloring. Mix this into the dry ingredients. It will be the consistency of spackle.
- By now, the milk should have little wisps of steam but should not be simmering. Pour it into your cake mix. Mix gently to avoid splashing. At the end, it will look really loose.
- Pour a little more than ¼ cup of your red velvet batter into each cupcake liner (or use a #20 scoop). Bake for 15 minutes. Move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Add the white chocolate chips to your small bowl and set aside. Pour milk into your small saucepan. Set your pan over medium heat until the cream has wisps of steam but is not bubbly yet.
- Pour the hot cream over your white chocolate and let it sit for a minute. Then stir until smooth. Allow this to cool completely. It will thicken up.
- Once your ganache is room temperature, use an electric hand mixer to beat the cream cheese into it. Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt, and whip until it builds a bit of volume and seems fluffier.
- Move the frosting to a piping bag and pipe as much frosting as you like on each cupcake.
- Optionally decorate with sprinkles.
