The Best Red Velvet Cupcakes

This recipe will show you how to make the best red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from scratch that melts in your mouth.

Perfect for Valentine’s Day treats, Christmas parties, birthdays, or any time during the year to fill your red velvet cupcake craving! You won’t be able to stop with just one!

Yields: 24 cupcakes

Red velvet is a popular cake flavor and these red velvet cupcakes are to die for! The cupcake is moist, has that cocoa flavor, and has melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese frosting.

I seem to be known for my red velvet cupcakes.

Not only did I bring them for each semester we completed of clinical in nursing school.

Somehow, it also became a tradition that I have brought them arranged in a basket to every memorial and funeral service I attend.

My in-laws also love red velvet cupcakes so they get made several times a year, just because.

These are a couple of the baskets I put together for the services and/or brought to the family and piped them to look like roses. I wish I had taken better photos at the time.

Needless to say, these cupcakes are classic and they’re perfect for gatherings, birthdays, baby or wedding showers, holidays, and all celebrations!

What is Red Velvet?

Red velvet is a cake that has been mixed with cocoa, white vinegar, and buttermilk, among other cake ingredients.

What Makes it Red?

Traditionally, the cake batter was mixed with beetroot. It gave a rich red color to enhance the darker maroon color from the cocoa being mixed.

These days, most have steered away from beets in their red velvet cake recipe, and instead opt for red food coloring to give the cake vibrancy.

Ingredients for Red Velvet Cupcakes

Butter
Granulated Sugar
Eggs
Pure Vanilla Extract
Buttermilk
White Vinegar
Cake Flour
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Salt
Red Food Coloring

Ingredients for My Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Cream Cheese
Confectioners’ Sugar (Icing Sugar)
Butter
Pure Vanilla Extract
Shortening

What tip do you use for decorating red velvet cupcakes?

I used Wilton’s 2D tip for these cupcakes, but you can also use 1M which is a slightly more open star.

How do you pipe a cupcake?

Cakes by Lynz’s piping tutorials on YouTube are great for beginners.

She explains the basics of cupcake decorating and how to get started with piping frosting. She has other great videos on all different kinds of tips and tricks.

Pro Tip: Oil & Butter

I have tried making red velvet cupcakes with only butter and the cake turns out so much drier.

Oil adds noticeable moisture to the cupcakes while butter adds in its own buttery rich flavor.

It’s best to use a mixture of both oil and butter for this cake batter.

Try these other sweet cupcakes!

Enjoy!

Yield: 24 Cupcakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

This recipe will show you how to make the best red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from scratch that melts in your mouth. Yields: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

Red Velvet Cupcakes

1/4 cup Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup Vegetable or Canola Oil
1 1/2 cups Granulated White Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 cup Buttermilk
1 tsp White Vinegar
2 1/2 cups Cake Flour (can substitute with all-purpose flour)
2 tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
3 tbsp Red Food Coloring

Frosting

Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare regular-sized muffin pans with cupcake liners.
Cream butter and sugar together in a mixer or in a medium-sized bowl with a hand mixer. Add eggs one at a time to the mixer. Add oil, vanilla, and vinegar. Sift dry ingredients together into a bowl. Alternate adding buttermilk and dry ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix well after each addition.
Add red food coloring to cupcake batter and blend. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of batter in each cupcake liner in the muffin pans.
Place pans in the oven and bake for 14-16 minutes until the tops spring back when you lightly touch them, or a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and place on cooling racks. Allow to fully cool before frosting with cream cheese frosting.

Nutrition Information

Yield 24 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 141Total Fat 3gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 21mgSodium 127mgCarbohydrates 26gFiber 0gSugar 14gProtein 2g

Nutrition is not always accurate.