red velvet cupcakes

Welcome to the Spread the Love Blog Hop! We are excited to be bringing you ideas for Valentine's Day. On this stop, I'm sharing a recipe for one of my most favorite kinds of cake... Red Velvet! It's a party and one of the sweetest holidays of the year, so of course our blog hop needs a cake!

 
  
Red velvet is rich, slightly chocolately and not overly sweet. We chose this as our wedding cake and now enjoy any excuse to have a slice or cupcake.

 
cake ingredients
2-1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/3 cups vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red liquid food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

frosting ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 cups confectioner's sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract



Makes approximately 24 cupcakes.
 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place paper liners into muffin pan.
3. In a bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, and salt.
4. In a separate bowl, combine sugar and oil using an electric mixer on medium speed.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, to bowl of wet ingredients and beat until incorporated.
6. Add food coloring and vanilla extract to bowl of wet ingredients and beat until incorporated.
7. Alternate between adding flour mixture and buttermilk to the bowl of wet ingredients. Beat on low speed between each addition of ingredients. 
8. In a small bowl, stir together baking soda and white vinegar. Allow to become foamy.
9. Add foamy mixture to the batter and mix on medium speed for approximately ten seconds.
10. Pour the batter into lined muffin pan, dividing evenly among the muffin cups so that each is about three-quarters full. 
11. Bake for approximately 20 minutes at 350 degrees, until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean.
12. Remove from oven and transfer the pan to a wire cooling rack before removing the cupcakes.
13. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
14. Beat butter and cream cheese with mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about two minutes. 
15. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating on low speed after adding each cup of sugar.
16. Add vanilla and mix until smooth.
17. Spread onto cupcakes and enjoy!

Red velvet cupcakes are already colored for Valentine's Day all on their own. But if you want to make them even more festive, you can make your own toppers like I did.

To create these toppers, I was inspired by the popular conversation hearts. I simply chose my favorite sayings, printed them in an all-capital-letters onto colorful paper, and punched out the sayings with my heart punch. I then put adhesive on the back-side of one heart, rested a toothpick onto the heart, and sealed it in place with a second heart. Yummy and pretty!

 

I hope you'll check out the other amazing projects we have to share with you for Valentine's Day! Please stop by these blogs for more great ideas...

Carrie at Through the Camera Lens
Laura at Cameron Crazy
Maya at Basement Chronicles
Melissa at Sunlight and Simplicity

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a very lovely Valentine's Day!