Red Velvet Cupcakes

Personally, I've never been the biggest fan of cupcakes. I know that for a lot of people they are the quintessential dessert treat. I mean who wouldn't love a mini version of a cake, right? But for me I've always preferred more robust and dense cakes, such as cheesecake, which have more of a bite to them. Still, at some point or another I thought I should at least try making such an all-American classic.

I chose to make red velvet cupcakes because I had heard a lot about them but never actually tried one myself. Despite the name and color, the cupcakes are actually chocolate flavored due to the addition of cocoa powder. For those who want to use natural ingredients, the red color can be achieved with the use of beets. However using beets presents its own challenge because depending on if you use them raw or roasted they have a different flavor and also water content, therefore changing the liquid-to-dry ingredient ratio. Also, using beets affects the acidity of the batter, meaning you have to make sure the cocoa powder and baking soda don't react with the acidic beet juice and turn the cupcakes brown. I didn't feel like making batches upon batches to discover the perfect ratio therefore I used a recipe from my favorite food blog Annie's Eats which relied on food coloring to get a nice red color.

I followed the recipe and made a vanilla cream cheese frosting which also used butter, something I don't typically put in my cream cheese frosting. The cupcakes tasted good, with a hint of chocolate flavor, but I honestly expected them to be more moist. Everyone enjoyed them, especially the frosting, and now I'm finally able to say that I have baked cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Makes 12 standard sized cupcakes.

• 1¼ cups flour
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 tbsp liquid red food coloring
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ½ tsp white vinegar

1. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt. Whisk to blend and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the egg, vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar on medium speed until well combined.
3. Lower the speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet. Continue to mix until smooth and evenly incorporated.
4. Divide the batter evenly in a greased or paper-lined muffin pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Remove from the oven and cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan before removing to finish cooling.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Note: This makes enough frosting to frost 12 cupcakes.

• 5 oz cream cheese, chilled
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1½ cups powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 

1. Beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Reduce the speed to low and add the powdered sugar. Once incorporated, increase the speed again to medium and continue to beat for another 2-3 minutes. Blend in the vanilla.