Red Velvet Cupcakes

People who know me or follow my blog know that I have a big interest in the food from the Southern part of the US. I love to travel around there and I love the food!
I've spend there quite a lot of time but never ran into Red Velvet cake which is a Southern classic. The first time I heard of it was from our friend in Chicago, she made it and told me about it, I was intrigued, cake colored red with food die... and it has cocoa, very weird.
I wanted to bake it but as it is with some recipes it just didn't happen.

Over the last few months I ran into various blog postings were people made Red Velvet cake or cupcakes. I bookmarked some recipes, Joy the Baker has a nice one, Paula Deen also has one but I used a recipe I found on Elise's blog Simply Recipes. I choose this one because it looks very authentic, it has vinegar which makes the red even redder and it has butter which I like better than the vegetable oil Paula Deen's recipe calls for.

So yesterday I made and tasted my first Red Velvet cake in the form of cupcakes topped with a cream cheese frosting. My first reaction was, why did I never ate or made this before? It was moist sweet with a hint of chocolate in the cake, the frosting was sweet and complements the cake nicely, I LOVE it :-)
My red could have been brighter I think, but there were a couple of shades of red food coloring that I could choose from at the wholesale and it's hard to pick if you have to judge it by the bottle.

I halved the original recipe, the recipe below makes one dozen cupcakes.

Ingredients:
3/4 cups of sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
1 1/6 cups of cake flour (I used 1 cup flour and 1/6 cup cornstarch)
1 tablespoons of Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of buttermilk*
3/4 tablespoons of red food coloring
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar

For the Frosting
1/4 cup of butter (1/2 stick), room temperature
4 oz of Philly cream cheese (1/2 package), room temperature
1 - 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

*You can make your own buttermilk by adding half a tablespoon of distilled white vinegar to milk and letting it stand for about 10 minutes.

Preparation:
The cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer for 3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is fully incorporated. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract, and red food coloring.

Add a fourth of the dry ingredients and mix, then add a third of the wet. Continue adding in a dry, wet, dry pattern, ending with the dry ingredients.

Scoop into cupcake papers, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate the pan after the first 15 minutes of baking to ensure even baking.

Allow to cool for one minute in the pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

The Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
Add the vanilla extract and mix.
Add the powdered sugar, continually taste to get to desired sweetness. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.