Red Velvet Cupcakes Recipe

Many people love a good Red Velvet cake. But not everyone has considered making cupcakes. Making these miniature cakes can be a bit trickier to get the moisture just right that you expect out of a good red velvet cake. We're going to show you just how to make them!

You'll Need:
Cake:
1/3 cup cocoa
3 tablespoons red food coloring
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Frosting:
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 ounces of chocolate (dark or white)
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa (omit for white frosting)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Get out enough cupcake tins to make 24 cupcakes along with cupcake papers. Stir together the vanilla extract, food coloring and cocoa in a small bowl and set aside. Beat the sugar and butter together in a larger bowl. Once those two are well mixed, add the egg yolks and beat for one (1) minute. Add the cocoa mixture and mix until evenly blended. Now you'll slowly add and stir in the buttermilk, salt and flour. Separately mix the baking soda and vinegar together and then add it to the mixture as well.

2. Fill the cupcake tins with their cupcake papers and add approximately 3 tablespoons of batter to each one. Cook for around 15 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the cupcake center and withdrawn clean.

3. You'll want to let the cupcake tins cool for about 15 minutes on a wire rack and then pull the cupcakes out of the tins to finish cooling. This ensures that the cakes don't continue cooking in hot tins. Wait until the cupcakes have completely cooled before you frost them, or else the frosting will run.

4. Once the the cupcakes have cooled, we can go ahead and mix the frosting. Whisk together the milk, chocolate, flour and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to simmer and bubble. This shouldn't take very long - a couple of minutes at most. Now pull them off the heat and pour the mixture into a small bowl and let it cool.

5. Beat the butter, confectioner's sugar, vanilla extract and cocoa (or leave it out if you want white frosting) together until it's light and fluffy. You'll want to go ahead and use it immediately. Just don't go too heavily on the "one for the cupcake, one for me" rule.

6. Enjoy!