Red Velvet Cupcakes
The Best Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting. All of the tips and tricks for making perfect red velvet cupcakes every single time!
It's Christmas Eve and I am trying to sneak in one last post on Modern Honey and it has to be perfect red velvet cupcakes. This is such a classic Southern recipe that is crazy popular!
I have shared my Red Velvet Cake Recipe and it has actually climbed to be one of the most popular recipes on Modern Honey. I tested and re-tested so many red velvet cake recipes to ultimately create this recipe! I went up a pants size just for you! So much cake! But it was well worth it because now we have a killer red velvet cupcake recipe that everyone will love!
The key with red velvet cupcakes is to have a touch of chocolate flavor. It needs to be enough to notice it but not enough to make it taste like a full-blown chocolate cake. I found the sweet spot by using 3 Tablespoons of cocoa powder.
I also found that a combination of butter and oil makes the moistest, most tender, and flavorful cake. Butter adds the flavor and the oil makes it extra moist.
Buttermilk is such a game changer in baked goods! I love to have it in my arsenal (aka my refrigerator) at all times. The beauty of it is that it is low in fat but does similar things in baking as heavy cream. It is one of my favorite ingredients to use in my cakes.
How to make the Best Red Velvet Cupcakes:
- Start by mixing the dry ingredients together. This is an important step to make sure to get all of the clumps out so give it a good stir.
- In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, and red food coloring.
- Beat the butter and sugar together for 4 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the oil and cream for 2 more minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat for 2 minutes longer.
- Add ½ of the dry ingredients and ½ of the buttermilk mixture, mixing after each addition until it is all added.
- Drop the batter into cupcake liners and bake until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean. Don't OVERBAKE. No dry cupcakes here!
- Make a cream cheese frosting by whipping together butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Make sure the cream cheese is softened so it easily combines.
Here are my favorite cupcake baking tools -- 12-cup cupcake pan, rainbow cupcake liners, and a stainless steel cake tester.
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Red Velvet Cupcakes
Ingredients
Red Velvet Cupcakes:
- 1 ½ cups Flour (may use all-purpose or cake flour)
- 3 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ⅔ cup Buttermilk
- 1 ½ teaspoons White Vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 1 teaspoon Red Gel Food Coloring (if using liquid red food coloring, you may want to add more)
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter (softened)
- ¼ cup Oil
- 1 cup Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- ½ cup Butter (softened)
- 8 ounces Cream Cheese (softened)
- 3 ½ cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together.
- In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, and red food coloring.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together for 4 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the oil and cream for 2 more minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat for 2 minutes longer. Add vanilla.
- Add ½ of the dry ingredients and ½ of the buttermilk mixture, mixing after each addition until it is all added.
- Drop the batter into cupcake liners and bake until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean, about 16-19 minutes. Don't OVERBAKE. Let cool.
- In a bowl, whip together butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Spread all over the cooled cupcakes.
I hope you love these homemade red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting! Happy Baking, my friends!
Ennn
Yummm I’m hoping to make these in to mini cupcakes. How long should I bake it for & same temperature?
Thank you so much!
Sandy
I am looking forward to trying these yummy sounding cup cakes for my Bunco Group on the 13th.
They sound like they will be a hit!!
Elizabeth Z
I made the Gluten Free version of these cupcakes and they were delicious. I substituted regular flour with Bob's Red Mill, 1 to 1 Baking Flour and follow your recipe accordingly and they came out perfect!!!
CORINNE DRUMHELLER
Question: You say "add the oil and cream for 2 more minutes", but there is no cream in the list of ingredients. Please clarify
Amy
I think she means cream like the verb, whip it so it’s creamy.
Camz
I think she meant is the combination of sugar + butter.
Melissa L
It says that twice and I can’t find the cream either. It doesn’t sound like a verb in this case.
Melissa L
Wait, cream the verb is correct, I think. 🙂
Michelle Sierra
Would that be the buttermilk?
Latanya
When it says cream it means to mix together
Willowbee Austin
omg!
FAITH MISOY
creaming is a type of mixing not the cream itself
Aleida
Cream means to mix in “baking language, so when she says that she mean add the oil and mix for 2 more minutes ????
Afrin Khan
Cream as in beat the mixture until it is cream-like consistency. Cream is a verb here.
Brett
The flavors were spot on. Easy enough to make. Served them with a bottle of champagne and a dozen arranged red Roses. If it were a baking contest, I'd have to present them as "rustic". Over filled the cupcake liners and tried piping the frosting. Still delicious.
Marcie
Hi Melissa - Made these for Valentine's Day and my family & friends said they were without a doubt the best cupcakes they'd ever tasted! Was thrilled when I noticed the buttermilk in the recipe, since it's been one of my all-time favorite ingredients when it comes to baking (my grandmother and baking mentor swore by it!). I was wondering though if you use cupcake tins with larger than 3-inch diameter cavities? The recipe above says it makes 12, but I ended up with enough for almost 24. I also want to also try your vanilla cupcake recipe, which says it makes 24, but I don't want to end up with double that amount since I only have standard cupcake tins, ha ha!
Erica
I made these for Valentine’s Day, and they were perfect. I didn’t have buttermilk, so I used regular milk with a bit of lemon juice. These were the moistest cupcakes I’ve ever made, and the frosting was soooooo good. Thank you!
YY
The cupcakes were Most Excellent. Super moist, super yum. I would give 6 stars if I could. Thank you for sharing!
Joanne
Not a fan. I questioned the 1 tsp of salt and I should have reduced it. The cupcakes taste too salty to me. Light and fluffy though. The red food colouring gel is a must because even with 2 Tbsp of regular food colouring the cupcakes are not red but rather a weak chocolate cake. I won't be using this recipe again. Sorry....
Rebecca Hogan
I absolutely love this recipe! I'm not sure why people are complaining. It made my cupcakes super fluffy and the frosting is very good. You can definitely taste the cream cheese in it so if you prefer a weaker taste for the icing you may want to adjust accordingly.
The only adjustment I made to this recipe was that i added 2tbsp of red liquid food colouring to get my desired redness.
Notes: I only have a hand blender that mixes FAST on the lowest setting so I halved my mixing times every time I used it and when adding the two mixtures at the end I hand whisked it in to ensure i did not over beat it. 16 minutes cooked them perfectly. Would reccomend trying and have already shared the recipe with people!
Debra Sisk
I made these for my neighbor's birthday. I used a standard muffin tin and had way more batter than for just 12 cupcakes. I made 1 1/2 dozen and really could have made 24. They were really moist and taste great but they didn't rise like a normal cupcake. The batter spread over the edges of the tins. I thought I over mixed them, so made another batch the next morning and it wasn't much better. So, I am wondering if the recipe should have had baking powder in addition to the baking soda or if I just over filled the tins. I didn't get the nice rounded tops you normally get when making cupcakes.
Chillmom
Just tried this recipe and when I first tasted it coming out of the oven, I thought it was light and fluffy. Maybe a little too salty and greasy (the liners were almost dripping in grease when I popped them out of the pan). Granted that I forgot to add vanilla, it didn’t taste bad—although the cocoa wasn’t too obvious. However , I was hoping for a denser and more moist cupcake.
After leaving it to for a couple of hours to cool completely, I tasted it again, and it was sooo much better. I could barely taste the salt, the cocoa was more pronounced and the greasiness came together. It was less fluffy and more moist. My advice is to let it sit until all the flavors settle before serving/tasting.
Julian
I can vouch for this Recipe, absolutely delicious!
I have even used the same recipe to make an entire cake!
My only advice, don't shy on the colouring!
Ashley
Yum! These were so good! I messed up and totally forgot the oil, but they still came out moist and delicious.
Jessica Chaulklin
Mine weren't red. 🙁 Maybe because I used gel coloring from the little tube.
Can anyone else think of why?
Also, I accidentally used a whole cup of butter. 🙁 They turned out fine but we're really fatty and rich. Still delicious. I'll have to try it again.
Jessica Chaulklin
A very delicious recipe! I messed up, I added a whole cup of butter rather than half. It was still delicious but very rich and fattyalso, my cupcakes were not red. I am not sure as to why. I used the gel food coloring in the little tube. Was that right?
Lastly, what is the recommendation for how to store these properly when frosted?
LeeAnn
How can I make buttermilk by 2/3? ????
NaDreyah Thomas
1 cup of milk mixed with1 table spoon of vinegar. And let it sit
Heide
Tried and tested, this recipe makes a good moist cupcake. It tastes good, just wondering what made it a little bit bitter. But the overall taste was awesome. Thanks for the recipe. Also, I had to add more food colouring (I used powder) to achieve the red colour I wanted.
Nina Finch
The flavor is pretty good. I saw remarks about being bitter, the cream cheese and buttermilk are for that purpose, making it a little “sour”. I was a little distressed with the vague instructions though and the recipe makes way more that 12 cupcakes ( more like 24, which I found in the comments, AFTER they were in the oven.) unless you’re making jumbo, and I felt it was an expensive ingredient list to have the tops of my cupcakes look so bad because they were overfilled. Not to be unappreciative though because thank you for sharing, but try to be more specific with directions.
L
made this twice but always turn out pink velvet and weird for me how it taste.. not chocolatey and no rich flavor ..
Debra Samsa
My family gave this recipe a five star, although I was a bit nervous about the mild bitter flavor. Thankfully the cream cheese frosting was the balance!! This will make 24 cupcakes. My question is why my batter was thick like my banana muffin recipe. Could in have added a bit more buttermilk to thin it slightly? Overall it turned out just fine but I’ve never seen a cake batter so thick.