Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I love Red Velvet. It's so hard to explain the flavor of this ever-so-popular cake flavor but it sure is delicious. Even better, the cake is a gorgeous red color. And the cream cheese frosting is white. Red and white? Happy Canada Day! Am I ever proud to call myself Canadian! Since July 1st is Canada's birthday I figured some Red Velvet Cuppies would be the perfect celebratory dessert.

The recipe calls for buttermilk and cake/pastry flour. Make sure you have these before hand!

I love jimmies. They are so much fun! Especially when they are all one color. How cute.

You will also need red food coloring. The liquid kind. And lots of it. You may feel like using less but your cupcakes/cake won't have that traditional red color that makes Red Velvet so unique. And try to avoid wearing white when making these cupcakes! I use cake and pastry flour from Fortinos.

When the cupcakes are baking, you can prepare your chocolate maple leaves (or whatever other chocolate molds you are creating). Put a handful of wavers in a microwave-safe bowl and on intervals of 10-15 seconds, melt the wavers until smooth and creamy. Be careful not to leave the wavers in the microwave for too long as they will burn and then you will have to throw them out (I've done THAT before).

Gently tap your spoon over the mold wells so only a small amount of chocolate spoons in. Then use the tip of the spoon or a knife, spread the chocolate to the edges of the shape. I've tried this technique with squeeze bottles but I find the chocolate gets too hard to melt and stir, and ultimately the chocolate always ends up burning. Unless you are making free form designs to transfer from wax paper to your desserts, a spoon will work quite perfectly.

Now take a look at that color!

For the frosting you'll need two packages of cream cheese and half a cup of unsalted butter. This batch makes a ton of frosting which is nice; you'll be able to make big swirls on your cupcakes without running out!

And you are going to need icing sugar; and lots of it!

Once the frosting is ready you can frost to your liking and sprinkle away! Festive huh?

Delicious!!

Here they are with swirls made by a simple round tip and topped with the chocolate maple leaves. How Canadian is that! I think these turned out adorable and I am quite happy with them.

Happy 142nd Birthday Canada!

I couldn't be more happy to call such a place home!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

(adapted from Pinch My Salt)

2 and a half cups sifted cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 bottles red food coloring

half a cup unsalted room temp butter

1 and a half cups sugar

2 eggs large size

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk, room temp

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 packages cream cheese at room temp

half a cup unsalted butter at room temp

2 - 3 cups of icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin pan with liners of your choice. In a large bowl sift together your flour, salt and baking powder. In a smaller-sized bowl combine your red food coloring and cocoa powder until a thick paste is achieved. Be very careful with this mixture as even a tiny drop will stain anything. In yet another bowl, beat your butter and sugar until fluffy and then one at a time, add your eggs. Scrape down the sides to get everything equally mixed.

Add in the color paste to the butter, sugar and egg mixture and beat well until the batter is a deep maroon color. Add a third of the flour mixture to the red batter and mix well. Then add half of the buttermilk and mix well with your hand mixer. Follow this sequence again with a third of the flour mixture, the last half of the buttermilk, and then finally the remainder of the flour. Mix well until all of the flour is blended in.

In a small cup create a paste with the vinegar and baking soda. Mix into the batter and then spoon the mixture into your cupcake wells. Fill liners about two thirds full. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

While the cupcakes are baking, you can prepare your cream cheese frosting. In a large bowl, cream your cream cheese and butter together until fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract and half a cup of sugar at a time, until your desired sweetness is reached. Throw in a pinch of salt if the frosting is too sweet. Spread, pipe or decorate on your cupcakes and enjoy!

Happy Baking, and until next time, Rhiannon

P.S. My cupcakes were featured on Cupcakes Take The Cake! I am so excited!