Holiday Red Velvet Cupcakes

My friend Gina recently came across a photo of red velvet cupcakes topped with a white chocolate star and decided they would make a great centerpiece for her Christmas holiday dessert table and I agreed. Gina is one of my friends who is a great cook and loves great food but just doesn’t like to bake…so I wanted to create a recipe for her that would be easy to make. I experimented with both butter and oil for these cupcakes, and after making them several times, it was the butter that gave the best texture of all. I had made red velvet cake  before when I made Raven Dennis’s famous recipe, but his recipe would not work for cupcakes, just for layered cakes. When making cupcakes, you want something with a little peak and not something that will bake flat. So I decided to try his recipe a few different ways to get the result that I needed. The final result is a moist and tender muffin that has a lovely peak that cupcakes should have. This recipe also works with just all purpose flour if that is all you have on hand, but I find that it has a more tender crumb if you use half the quantity in cake flour. Make these for your guests and put them on a tiered display for your dessert table. Make cut out stars, then texture them by using a paper towel to dab on a little more melted chocolate, then dust them with gold luster powder…

Red Velvet Cupcakes (18 cupcakes)

1 stick butter, softened at room temp

1 ¾ cups sugar (you can use up to 2 cups)

1 cup buttermilk (or ¾ cup yogurt plus ¼ cup water)

2 large eggs

1 oz red food coloring

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 ½ cups cake flour

2 level tablespoons cocoa powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and begin to cream the mixture together. Add the eggs, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar and milk well. Sift the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then add the dry ingredients in 2 or 3 additions to the wet mixture. Do not over mix. Spray and paper your muffin tins and using a scoop, place the batter into each cup. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven and bake until muffins have peaked and set, about 15-20 minutes. While the muffins are cooling, prepare the frosting.

Just Gimme A Spoon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pound cream cheese, softened

8 oz butter, softened

3 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 tablespoon good quality vanilla

Add the softened cream cheese, butter and sifted powdered sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and using a paddle, cream together until fluffy and smooth, about 5 minutes. Use a decorative tip and piping bag and place the frosting in the bag and pipe out onto each cupcake. Top with a chocolate star or some gold luster powder.