Red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting

I have always been wanting to try to make a red velvet cake but didn't really go about looking for a recipe from the internet. And recently I found a recipe from Glorious Treats and decided to give it a try because the pictures is just too adorable. This cake is good for occasions like Valentine's Day or Christmas because of the colour.

For the cupcake

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (Dutch process)

1  tsp salt

1 1/3 cups oil (Canola oil or any cooking oil)

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

4 tbsp liquid red food coloring (or 1 tablespoons concentrated food coloring)

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp white vinegar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*F (180 Deg C).  

2. In a large bowl whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt, and set aside.

3. Whisk or beat oil and sugar until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, and continue beating.  

4. Add food coloring and vanilla and mix well.

5.  Add flour and buttermilk alternately, in two batches. Mix just enough to combine. 

*I am not able to get any buttermilk from the Cold Storage near my house, so I used yogurt as substitute which I just so happens to have a tub which I bought to go with my cereals. To use yogurt, it will be 1-to-1 ratio, which means 1 cup of buttermilk equals to 1 cup yogurt. There are other substitutes if you do not have yogurt. You can also use 1 cup of milk plus 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice.

6.  Place baking soda in a bowl or cup, add vinegar and stir (it will foam and expand).  Add to cake batter and beat for 10 seconds.

7. Fill cupcake liners 2/3-3/4 full. Bake cupcakes 20-24 minutes.

For the cream cheese frosting

Ingredients

½ cup (1 stick/8 Tablespoons) butter (set at room temp about 10 minutes, but should still be cool)

8 oz. cream cheese (directly from fridge)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered confectioners sugar
1 to 2 tbsp heavy cream, heavy whipping cream

Directions

1.  Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add cream cheese and blend until fully combined

2.  Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar while mixing.  Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy. For the powdered sugar, though I it says 2 cups, it really depends on personal preference. I do not like my frosting to be too sweet, so actually I have only used less than 2 cups of powdered sugar.

3.  Slowly add the heavy cream, add abit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don’t add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.) Beat until fluffy and you can start frosting your cupcakes!

 

They looks cute right :D Looking at them makes me smile!

 

 My cake looks darker then the usual bright red velvet cake. This is because this recipe used a slightly more amount for cocoa powder. If you want, you can reduce the amount of cocoa powder so it doesn't look more like maroon colour.