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cupcake with red paper case, more on glass stand in background.
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Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes are fabulous. A light, chocolatey flavour and a completely unique velvety texture make these cupcakes something extra special.
Course Sweets
Cuisine American, British
Keyword easy cupcakes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 12 Cupcakes
Calories 407kcal
Author Donna

Ingredients

For the Red Velvet Cupcakes:

  • 85 g Butter or Margarine
  • 200 g Caster Sugar
  • 2 Medium Eggs
  • 20 g Cocoa
  • 0.5 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
  • 1.5 teaspoon White Wine Vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Red Food Colouring Gel
  • 170 ml Buttermilk
  • 225 g Plain Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Bi-Carbonate of Soda
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

For the Cream Cheese Icing:

  • 125 g Unsalted Butter At room temperature
  • 125 g Icing Sugar
  • 250 g Soft Cheese Philadelphia is best

Instructions

For the Cakes:

  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan assisted) and line a 12-hole muffin tin with cake cases.
  • Cream together the butter and caster sugar until smooth and thick.
  • Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
  • Whisk the buttermilk, cocoa, vinegar, vanilla, and food colouring in a small jug and pour in.
  • Whisk for 3 minutes until smooth (longer by hand).
  • Sift in the flour, bi-carb, and baking powder and whisk for 3 minutes until smooth.
  • Spoon evenly into the cake cases, making sure to fill no more than 2/3rds.
  • Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
  • Remove from the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

For the Icing:

  • Beat the butter until soft.
  • Add the icing sugar and continue beating for 5 minutes until smooth.
  • Add the soft cheese and fold in carefully until evenly mixed without lumps, but don’t over mix.
  • Pipe or spoon onto the cool cakes.

To Decorate (optional):

  • Level the cakes, or use one of them, to crumble crumbs onto the top of the cream cheese.

Notes

  • If you don’t have buttermilk mix 1tbsp of lemon juice or white vinegar into 170ml milk.
  • If you don’t have white wine vinegar, any white vinegar will do.
  • Margarine and English soft cheese both have a lot of liquid, so I try to use a block of hard butter for my cream cheese. Philadelphia also typically works better than supermarkets own soft cheese.