Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing
My tribute to Canada Day! These cupcakes were festive and really, really tasty.
July 1 is Canada Day – Canada’s 143rd birthday! In honour of the day (and because I look for just about any reason to make cupcakes), I cooked up these maple-leaf sprinkled Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. (*Maple Leaf sprinkles available at Bulk Barn in Canada).
Red Velvet Cupcakes have been on my list to make for a long time. I’ve eaten a few over the years and each was a bit different from the other – some really red, some not-so-red, some pretty chocolatey, some hardly chocolatey at all. So when it came to choosing a recipe to try, I did my research!
I visited a number of sites with popular Red Velvet Cupcake recipes and compared the ingredients. I was particularly noticing how much cocoa and red food colouring some of them had. I have to confess, despite the pretty (red) result, I wasn’t completely comfortable with pouring a whole bottle of red food colouring into my mixing bowl.
In the end, I settled on a Garret McCord recipe found on Simply Recipes. I reduced the red food colouring in half (my version of compromise :) So my Red Velvet Cupcakes may be leaning a tad more to pink than red, but they were just as yummy. And the recipe was perfect – moist, flavourful and just the right amount of chocolate taste.
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing
Summary: These are moist, flavourful and just the right amount of food colouring for me.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 2 1/3 cups cake flour
- 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 – 1 1/2 Tbsp. red food coloring
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. white vinegar
- Cream Cheese Icing:
- 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
- 8 oz pkg. cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
- 2 – 3 cups of powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- For the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. With a large bowl and an electric mixer or in your stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar for 3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract, and the red food coloring.
- Add the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar mixture, alternately with the buttermilk mixture until both are well incorporated into the batter.
- Fill cupcake liners 1/2 – 2/3 full (do not overfill as they rise considerably and may go up and over!). Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for one minute in the pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the Frosting:
- Cream the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract, then add the powdered sugar as needed to the proper icing consistency and sweetness desired. Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.
Prep time: 15 min | Cook time: 20 min | Total time: 50 min
Number of servings (yield): 24 cupcakes
Adapted from a Garrett McCord recipe via Simply Recipes
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7 comments
Chocolate Shavings says:
Jul 1, 2010
Those look great! Happy Canada day!
Janna M says:
Jul 1, 2010
I wish I had some of those sprinkles but we don’t have Bulk Barn here in the States. Happy Canada Day!
I’m wearing a Roots flag shirt in honor of today but no one here has noticed. I’ve always wanted to try making red velvet cake but the food coloring puts me off.
Jun Belen says:
Jul 1, 2010
Happy Canada Day!! Lovely photos. I’ve been looking for a good velvet cupcake recipe. I have to try this one out soon!
Jen says:
Jul 1, 2010
Happy Canada Day everyone! Hope you’re all enjoying the holiday and I hope someone comments on your great shirt, Janna! :)
These were really tasty. I’m not super keen on the food colouring either, Janna. Now that I’ve tried it, I think I’ll just leave it out next time and just enjoy the taste (if not the colour).
Jessica says:
Jul 1, 2010
Delicious! I love the red maple sprinkles. I like the changes you made, the amount of cocoa looks perfect.
Honey says:
Jul 1, 2010
Happy Birthday to Canada!
These look so pretty… red and white cupcakes… i love it!
I learned something new today about how old Canada is… :-)
beautiful pics.
Jen says:
Jul 1, 2010
Thanks Honey! (And Canada doesn’t look a day over 100, if you ask me ;)