Red Velvet Cupcakes
The very best red velvet cupcakes recipe - they're soft, moist, topped with the most delicious cream cheese frosting and they turn out perfectly every time!
Servings: 12 Cupcakes
Cost: $8
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ¼ cup salted butter (melted)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ teaspoon white vinegar
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon red gel food coloring (you can use ½ to 1 teaspoon depending on your preferences)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius).
- Line a standard muffin tin with 12 cups and lightly spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside
- In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter and granulated sugar together.
- Then, add the egg, buttermilk, white vinegar, canola oil, vanilla and red food coloring and whisk until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until there are no lumps.
- Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to fill each cupcake liner with ¼ cup of batter.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 16-18 minutes, or until the tops are set and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
- Place cupcake pan on a wire cooling rack to cool for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, lift cupcakes in their liners out of the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. (Note: if I’m in a hurry, I put them in the freezer to cool faster so I can frost them faster).
- While the cupcakes are cooling, make cream cheese frosting https://joyfoodsunshine.com/cream-cheese-frosting/.
- Once cool, frost with cream cheese frosting. Then chill until the frosting is set (about 1 hour).
- Serve room temperature or slightly chilled.
Video
Notes
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- All-purpose flour. To make them gluten-free use a 1:1 all-purpose gluten-free baking flour.
- Cocoa powder. Don't omit! This is an essential ingredient in red velvet cupcakes. Using just two Tablespoons gives them tons of flavor without making them into chocolate cupcakes.
- Salted butter. unsalted butter works great!
- Buttermilk. I suggest buying buttermilk to make this recipe (then use it to make my buttermilk pancakes, yum). You can make your own buttermilk by mixing 1/2 cup milk with 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice - but it's not totally the same.
- Canola oil. avocado oil is a good substitute.
- Red gel food coloring. Since I rarely use food coloring in my everyday life - I make an exception for this recipe and use this red gel food coloring (balance). Or you can use a natural, plant based red food coloring.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 cupcake | Calories: 176kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 141mg | Potassium: 44mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 154IU | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg