Red Velvet Cupcakes

By Millie Peartree

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Julia Gartland for The New York Times (Photography and Styling)
Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
4(574)
Notes
Read community notes

This bright and beautiful Southern staple has a hint of chocolate flavor that’s paired with a cream cheese frosting, keeping it from being too sweet. Part of red velvet cake’s allure is how moist it is, owing to the vegetable oil in the batter. (Oil-based cakes are often more tender than butter-based counterparts.) You can make these into even smaller cupcakes — this recipe yields twice as many mini cupcakes — just reduce the cooking time accordingly. And if you want your cake even lighter in texture, sift the flour before you mix it in.

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Ingredients

Yield:24 cupcakes

    For the Cupcakes

    • 2½cups/320 grams cake flour
    • 1½cups/300 grams granulated sugar
    • 1teaspoon baking soda
    • 1teaspoon fine sea salt
    • 1teaspoon cocoa powder
    • 1½cups/360 milliliters vegetable oil
    • 1cup/240 milliliters buttermilk, at room temperature
    • 3large eggs, at room temperature
    • 2tablespoons red food coloring
    • 1teaspoon white distilled vinegar
    • 1teaspoon vanilla extract

    For the Cream Cheese Frosting

    • 2(8-ounce/225-gram) packages cream cheese, softened
    • 4cups/410 grams sifted confectioners’ sugar
    • 1cup/225 grams unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
    • 1teaspoon vanilla extract
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (24 servings)

437 calories; 29 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 14 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 42 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 31 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 235 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin pans with paper liners.

  2. Step 2

    In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. In another large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla.

  3. Step 3

    Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined and a smooth batter is formed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

  4. Step 4

    Scoop batter into muffin cups until they are about three-fourths of the way full, making sure not to overfill. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the oven. Let cool completely.

  5. Step 5

    As cupcakes cool, prepare the cream cheese frosting: In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a large bowl and a handheld electric mixer, mix the cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and butter on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula halfway through.

  6. Step 6

    Reduce mixer speed to low. Add the vanilla, increase the speed to high and mix briefly, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until fluffy.

  7. Step 7

    Once cupcakes are cool, frost, using a pastry bag with a large tip, or an offset spatula.

Ratings

4 out of 5
574 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

PJ

Super good and fluffy cakes!! The frosting calls for 4 cups of confectionary sugar but we used 2 instead and it was the perfect amount of sweetness!

Anna

I agree these could use a bit more cocoa powder (I put in just a teaspoon, as it says here), but otherwise, these were delicious! I will say there was WAY too much frosting, and my muffin tins are a bit small, so I ended up with nearly 2 dozen cupcakes but still tons of extra frosting. I only used half the powdered sugar in the frosting as well. Next time, I'll just make half the frosting and go from there.

Rebecca

Half sugar in frosting

Bahnstormer

Used two table spoons of cocoa....Perfect!

k2

You can always leave the food coloring out. I dislike the taste myself.

Tre

These are delish! I agree with other reviewers, 1/2 cup less oil and I used the gel coloring which I prefer because you only need a pin prick and the color is much more vibrant (highly recommend if you decorate a lot of Christmas cookies). 2tbsp of food coloring is too much! I did about 2.5 cups of powdered sugar on the icing and it was perfect.

COhome

Tasted when they just came out of the oven and were a bit bland. Covered and left overnight. In the morning, flavor and texture was delicious; not too sweet and light, moist cake. The frosting is a light, fluffy cream cheese which pairs perfectly. Grandpa, who usually doesn't have dessert took home 2. A hit we will make again!

Mary

The last few red velvet things I've made from the Times have left me with red stained teeth and tongue. It washed out but I had to apologize to the people who got gifts. I don't use food coloring a lot so I'm wondering if this is common?

reehotta

These were really simple and yummy. Halved the recipe (1 egg 2tbsp of whisked egg), but they were very oily and could have used more cocoa. Also could have done with 1/4 of the icing.

Feedback

Modifications: Reduced oil to 1 cup Increased coca to 1 tbsp Halved frosting

Sarah

Use half the sugar in the frosting per other comments, and possibly extra cocoa.

Hummingbird7008

Too much oil does that. Maybe use less as noted by someone else here. I really prefer to use butter in cake recipes.

Hummingbird7008

Just made these, they are delicious and the texture is great. I did make adjustments according to some comments and a few of my own. I added 3 tablespoons of cocoa, 3/4 cup oil, 1 cup sugar. Icing, like others I halved the recipe, then used only 1/4 cup of butter instead of 1/2 cup, I found the 2 cups of icing sugar was needed for the half recipe and I used light cream cheese. The amount of food colouring is weird but it does make them truly red velvet, a first for me.

Hummingbird7008

I used grape seed, I think anything that is flavourless, canola oil works too or just vegetable oil. But make sure it's fresh, not going rancid.

Clay

It’s really too bad that the traditional frosting isn’t being used in red velvet recipes, especially at the NYT. It really is a better fit. Look up ermine frosting if you want the correct frosting for red velvet.

anna

Cake was a little bland, could’ve used more sugar. Icing was good. Would make again

margo

I agree with the need to decrease the amount of oil by a splash and I also used food coloring gel instead of dye. I add a tablespoon of cocoa powder to add a richer flavor but correspondingly feel the need to increase the acid level. When I used lemon juice instead of white vinegar, I found they had a brighter flavor.

Lisa

I wish I read the comments before I made these cupcakes. I think the recipe should call for 1 TBSP, not one 1 tsp, of cocoa, you can barely taste it. The cupcakes are very moist, but overall bland. I yielded 27 cupcakes out of the batter. I had twice as much icing as I needed, and I was generous in my use. I’m going to freeze the leftover icing, but I’d half that part of the recipe next time.

MCL

Modifications on cake: Increase - 1 TBSP cocoa powder Decrease - 240g oil Decrease - 280g sugar Add - 1 shot espresso Omit - Red food coloring Change - Ran short on buttermilk, so subbed milk with an additional tsp of vinegar. Modification on frosting: Halved the sugar, made half the frosting. Results: It came out with a lovely caramelized top and a slightly pink interior due to the reaction between the cocoa powder and vinegar. Moist and fluffy, with great flavor.

Christian Wood

Within how many must these be consumed within baking

CW67

I’ve never felt the need to add a comment to any of these wonderful recipes! But - the cream cheese frosting is WAY too much! Unless, of course, I’m not double coating the cupcakes? The flavor is great, but too much for 24 cupcakes! Don’t wast your ingredients.

Nana Susanna

Did traditional red velvet cakes use beets instead of food coloring? Organic food coloring is not red, and I don't use other colorings. Does anyone have a recipe with beets? Thanks

Kristin

Very disappointing recipe. Definitely needs more cocoa powder. While fluffy, the cake tastes like baking soda and didn’t taste like a red velvet cake at all to me.

Kate

Use leftover icing to make snickerdoodle cookies! Just substitute the butter & cream cheese icing cup-for-cup of pure butter. Reduce the recipe sugar amount to account for the fact that there is powdered sugar in the icing. They are delicious, and use up all that extra icing!!!!!

Mary K

GREAT recipe. Very tasty — plus easy and quick to make the cupcakes and the frosting. Only tweak I would recommend is doubling the cocoa.

anna

Can you make the batter the day before you actually cook it?

PedsICU RN

Agree with other cooks who noted these to be bland right out of the oven but they really moisten and flavor up over night and are phenomenal the following day!

Antonia

Agree there's not enough cocoa; I used 2 Tbsp. Also that's an insane amount of red food coloring; I maybe used 1 Tbsp and it was plenty. Would have used gel coloring if I'd had it. Last point: I accidentally only purchased 1 pack of cream cheese so was only able to make half the frosting, also cutting the powdered sugar by half. It was plenty.

Clay

It’s really too bad that the traditional frosting isn’t being used in red velvet recipes, especially at the NYT. It really is a better fit. Look up ermine frosting if you want the correct frosting for red velvet.

Lw

Thank you all for the very helpful notes I'll be sure to keep all of that in mind.

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