Red Velvet desserts, cakes & cupcakes are by far my favorite desserts, provided they are made right: soft, moist & not overly sweet. If you like your Red Velvet cupcakes like this too, then you're in for a treat. These muffins are not only soft and moist, but their cream cheese frosting makes them a delight to have them. Have you ever made any Red Velvet dessert before this? If not, I swear, this recipe is going to be easy to follow and will require only few ingredients. What is Red Velvet?To be honest with you, it's literally a chocolate cake, with lesser content of Cocoa Powder and lots of added red color. While the base of the cake is a slightly sweeter and not-cocoa bitter version of Chocolate Cake, it's the the Cream Cheese frosting which does the trick. YieldThis recipe will yield you batter, enough for 12 normal sized muffins, about 20 mini muffins or 10 mini Bundt cakes! If you still have extra batter remaining, bake it in any oven-friendly size appropriate dish and use the crumbs to garnish the frosting! Sustainability, I love it! Buttermilk? Can I use Regular Milk? You sure can use Regular Milk but I wouldn't recommend that. The acidic ingredient will help in tenderize the gluten, giving a softer texture to the cake and more body. In other words, just do it! If you have don't have vinegar at home, substitute the amount of vinegar with equal amounts of Lemon Juice. Few things to keep in mind while baking a Cake:1. Temperature: Use room temperature ingredients, especially the ones you keep in the fridge, like milk, eggs, butter. Room temperature will guarantee better results.2. Don't Over mix: Avoid using a whisk attachment, use a paddle or spatula again. Over mixing your batter can lead to a less fluffy cake. Mix it only till when it's required.3. Avoid Opening the Oven too much: Every time you open the oven to check on your cake, you change the temperature of the oven, which can lead to cracks on the cake.4. Sieve your Dry Ingredients: Try and sieve all your dry ingredients, from flour to coffee powder. It will lead to a cleaner batter and softer cake.Tips for Cupcakes & Muffins 1. Use Good Liners: I can't stress on this enough but using good quality non stick liners will go a long way for your cupcakes or muffins, especially when storing them. 2. ¾rd. Rule: Fill your liners to only 65-75% of it's capacity. Overfilling and underfilling will not give you the desired shape of your muffin. 3. Cooling before Icing: Are you impatient? I am too, but you gotta do what you gotta do! Let your muffin cool down before icing them, or the icing will melt faster than you can eat all. I swear I am not challenging you.Tips for Cream Cheese FrostingMy absolute favorite frosting, and it's so easy to make. But here are some tips to keep in mind. 1. Softened Butter & Cream Cheese: Use only softened ingredients, you would need to whip up your cream cheese first and you won't get the correct result from cold Cream Cheese. You need to do the same when you make Cheesecakes as well. Same goes for butter, you would need to whip it. 2. Room Temperature Heavy Cream: Temperature matters in baking! It matters even for eggs but it matters more for cream to get the desired lush texture of the frosting. 3. Use Icing Sugar: Don't substitute with Castor Sugar or Granulated Sugar. Both Caster & Granulated won't blend well with the Cream Cheese mix, even if you try for a long long time. 4. Refrigerate the Frosting: Remember, temperature is key! A frosting which is soft and warm won't hold well on your cupcakes. Icings should be cold! Enough with the tips! Getting on to the recipe now.
Equipment
- oven
- cupcake/mini muffin mold
- Stand Mixer (Optional)
- Measuring Cups & Spoons
- Spatula
- Piping Bags
Ingredients
For the Red Velvet
- 1½ cups All Purpose Flour or Cake Flour
- 2 tbsp Cocoa Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ¾ cup Caster Sugar
- ½ cup Canola Oil
- 6 tbsp Hung Curd
- 2 tsp Lemon Juice
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 7 tsp Red Food Coloring
- 1 cup Milk
- 1½ tbsp White Vinegar
For the Cream Cheese
- 1 cup Cream Cheese (softened)
- ½ cup Butter (softened)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Icing Sugar
Instructions
For the Red Velvet
- Begin by preheating the oven to 180°C and by lining a muffin or a mini muffin tray with liners. If you don't have liners at home, line by spraying or brushing some oil. Alternatively, you can use mini Bundt pans as well.
- Next, in a glass - mix the mentioned quantities of milk and vinegar to make buttermilk. Lett it sit for 5-10 minutes. The acidic ingredient will help in tenderize the gluten, giving a softer texture to the cake and more body.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients (Cocoa Powder , Flour & Baking Soda) in one bowl and sieve properly.
- In another bowl, or in a stand mixture with a Paddle attachment, beat oil & sugar until pale. Next, add the yoghurt, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Mix well until combined.
- Finally, add the red color. Add as mentioned in the quantity as we are looking for a deep scarlet red color here. When mixed properly, gather your sieved dry ingredients.
- Fold the dry ingredients in batches with the wet and the buttermilk in 3 batches, starting and ending with flour. The sequence would flow like this: flour-milk-flour-milk-flour. Mix till when everything is just combined and you don't see any dry flour. Check the sides of the bowl as well and don't over-mix.
- Transfer the batter into prepared cupcake or muffin trays. filling only till 75% or ¾ of the liner to ensure perfect rise and shape of cupcakes. Bake for 15-25 minutes! All ovens work differently, so to check insert a cake tester or a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, cupcakes are done. Let it cool before applying icing.
To make the Cream Cheese Frosting
- Start by combining the softened Cream Cheese with the Butter and mix well, until fluffy. Use a bowl with a balloon whisk, or an electric whisk - or alternatively, using a stand mixture with a whisk attachment.
- Next, add Vanilla Extract, followed by Icing Sugar and mix well. Check for taste!
- Apply on to the Cupcakes using Piping Bags. Store it in the fridge covered, if you have leftovers!
Closing Note
When storing cupcakes, store cupcakes with icing in refrigerator, covered with a cake dome is possible or in a Wine Chiller. Its best to store the muffins outside and cream cheese in the fridge separately to ensure freshness of both.
Absolutely love this recipe and everything about Red Velvets! But my favorite is Cream Cheese, head on below to try some with a Mango cake and for other dessert recipes as well.
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