Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing (Three Types!)

Red velvet cupcakes.  They are so pretty and elegant and southern.  Isn't it pretty?  Doesn't it look lovely?

Making red velvet cupcakes is gross.  It totally makes me feel like Hannibal Lecter-- like I am doing Very Bad Things in my kitchen.  I've got a bowl of icky, congealed goop.  I've got drippy red stuff everywhere.  I've got stains that are not coming out of my countertop.  It's like a bad horror movie.

But the end result?  So pretty and tasty.  And so you forget about the yuck...until the next time you make them. 

I made these cupcakes for one of my good friend's wedding shower,co-hosted by another one of my good friends.  This was one of the coolest showers I have been to-- there were no creepy wedding games or anything.  Just wine.  Lots of delicious wine.  And a knowledgeable guy pouring us lots of extra wine.  It was great.  I was also introduced to ebelskivers, which is a pastry I may have to investigate further.  Anyway, I had a lot of fun making these cupcakes and making them look pretty for such a special occasion.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
(Recipe from Annie's Eats)
Makes approx 24 cupcakes

2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp (1 oz) red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp distilled white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350° and prepare cupcake pan with liners.  In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients (cake flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt)-- whisk to blend.  In another bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar.  Beat on medium until well combined-- everything should be a pretty uniform red color.  (The combination of these ingredients looks hideous-- I thought I had totally screwed up the first time I made these!)



This is the congealed-looking goop I was talking about.

Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed, beating until smooth (approximately two minutes).  Again, everything should be a uniform red color.

Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake pans-- there should be enough for 24 cupcakes.  Try not to overfill-- that way you have room for the icing!  Bake for  approximately 18 minutes, rotating pans halfway through.  Doing that helps to ensure that all the cupcakes stay the correct pretty red color and don't over-brown.

<----Before, with the scary serial killer mess....




                             And after! So civilized---->








Now-- it's time for the frosting.  I made three separate kinds for these cupcakes.  In order to do that, I doubled a butter-cream cheese base, and then divided it into three parts and made each part with a modified recipe.  I will give my modified versions here as well as post a link to the original recipes, in case you want to do a whole batch with just one type.

Butter-Cream Cheese Frosting Base
16 oz cream cheese (soft, but not warm)
10 Tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature-- not melting)

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth.  Divide evenly between three bowls.

#1) Original Cream Cheese Frosting
(Recipe from Annie's Eats)

1/3 of the butter-cream cheese base
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used clear here to preserve the pretty white color)
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

In a medium bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the vanilla extract into the butter-cream cheese base.  Next, beat in the confectioners' sugar until smooth.  Ice 8 of the 24 cupcakes with this batch.

#2) Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
(Recipe from The Cupcake Project)

1/3 of the butter-cream cheese base
1/8(ish) cup cocoa powder (start here, but this is really to taste)
1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

In a medium bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the confectioners' sugar into the butter-cream cheese base until smooth.  Next, beat in the cocoa powder until even and uniform in color.  Ice 8 of the 24 cupcakes with this batch.

#3) Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
(Recipe from Tasty Kitchen)

1/3 of the butter-cream cheese base
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of almond extract
3/4 tsp of cinnamon
1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

In a medium bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the vanilla and almond extracts into the butter-cream cheese base.  Add the cinnamon and beat until evenly distributed.  Next, beat in the confectioners' sugar until smooth.  Ice 8 of the 24 cupcakes with this batch.



The final product!