Red Velvet Cupcakes

A UK recipe for fluffy and moist red velvet cupcakes with a thick and pipeable cream cheese frosting

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Cupcake

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Total Time 50

Servings

Calories 407kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

150 g Butter or baking spread unsalted, softened
150 g Caster sugar
2 Eggs large
85 ml Buttermilk
165 g Self raising flour
½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 ½ tbsp Cocoa powder
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp Red food colouring professional grade (e.g. Sugarflair Red Extra or Pro Gel)

Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and line a cupcake tin with cupcake cases
Mix the butter and sugar together until fluffy, ideally with an electric mixer for the best results
Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and mix in well
Add the cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, red food colouring, buttermilk and self raising flour, and mix in gently until fully combined
Divide the mixture between the cupcakes cases, and bake them for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cupcakes comes out clean. Put them on a rack to cool completely
To make the cream cheese frosting, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until smooth. Then mix in the icing sugar until the mixture is smooth
Next, add the cream cheese and the vanilla extract and mix in until the frosting is thick and smooth. Be careful not to over mix as this can make the frosting sloppy, and you won't be able to get it thick again
If you want to decorate the cupcakes with cake crumbs, level off a couple of the cupcakes and crumble up the pieces
Pipe or spread the frosting on top of the cupcakes, then add sprinkles of your choice, or cake crumbs
Store in the fridge and eat within 3 days

Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the butter, buttermilk and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
I used unsalted butter for the buttercream, for the cupcakes I used a baking spread.
You will need to use a professional grade food colouring to get the same shade of red that you can see in my photos. Brands I recommend are Pro Gel and Sugarflair. I have also heard good things about Colour Mill and Americolor.
I prefer to use Philadelphia full fat cream cheese for the buttercream as it gives me the best results.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50).
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.