The Best Ever Red Velvet Cupcakes

An ultra-tender sponge with a mild chocolate flavour and bold red hue gets crowned with a glorious cream cheese icing and filled with a white chocolate cream

For someone as dramatic as me (yes, I own that I am a drama queen) I don’t throw around the words “best ever” in many of my recipes. So, when I feel confident enough to put those words behind these red velvet cupcakes, you can be sure that I have full conviction in their superiority.

What makes these so good, you ask? It’s hard to pinpoint, but there are several elements which come together really harmoniously – the chocolaty red sponge, the tangy cream cheese frosting and the hidden white chocolate cream in the cupcake’s core.

My biggest critique of most red velvet cupcakes is that they are generically “vanilla” cupcakes which have been dyed red, with a cream cheese icing that tastes more crusty and sugary than tangy. I went about creating these with a lot of trial and error, and honestly they took a good few years to get right. Whist I agree that the chocolatiness of the cupcake shouldn’t be so prominent that it masquerades as a chocolate cake in disguise, I did want a bit more chocolatiness than I was getting from the just two tablespoons of cocoa. Increasing the cocoa however sacrificed the beautiful maroon hue, and so I chose to add in some coffee to amplify the cocoa.

I know this recipe is a bit more involved than the average red velvet cupcake, but I have tried simplifying t to use just butter and/or oil, just yogurt and/or buttermilk and just one type of food colour – but the texture and overall look is just not the same. I genuinely feel like this version lives up to its name, with a velvety, soft crumb and gorgeous deep red hue.

If you make this recipe, please share it with me by tagging me on Instagram @adventureswithsugar or on Facebook at Adventures with Sugar. Please also leave a comment below to let me know how you got on with the recipe.

FOR THE RED VELVET CUPCAKES (MAKES 24 – 30)

• 125ml coffee (made with boiling water and 2 teaspoon of instant coffee granules) (1/2 cup)
• 150g oil (3/4 cup)
• 60g salted butter (1/4 cup)
• 400g caster sugar (2 cups)
• 2 jumbo eggs (135g weighed within the shell) You may need 3 large eggs if using, to get best results
• 210g cake flour (1 3/4 cups)
• 30g corn flour ( 1/4 cup)
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1.5 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons liquid pink food colouring
• 2 tablespoons liquid red food colouring
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 130g buttermilk (1/2 cup)
• 130g yogurt (1/2 cup)

METHOD

1. Prepare the oven and the tin: Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celcius and line two standard 12 hole muffin tins with cupcake cases.
2. Prepare the coffee: Make the coffee by adding two teaspoons of instant coffee granules to 120ml boiling water to a large measuring jug (or other large heatproof bowl), and set aside.
3. Prepare the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, cornflour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder until all incorporated and set aside.
4. Add the remaining wet ingredients to the coffee: To the slightly cooled coffee, add the vanilla essence, food colourings, buttermilk and yogurt and whisk to combine.
5. Melt the butter: Place the butter in a microwave safe large bowl and melt. I prefer using a large bowl so that I can mix all the remaining ingredients into this bowl.
6. Add in the oil, sugar and eggs: To the melted butter, add in the oil and caster sugar and whisk this by hand, for a minute, to incorporate. We are not creaming the butter and sugar, like you would in a conventional cupcake, so there is no need to use an electric mixer. Then add in the two jumbo eggs and continue to whisk by hand for a minute or two. The batter will begin to thicken at this point, and begin to form little bumps of air.
7. Alternate the wet and dry ingredients to the butter mixture: To the butter and egg mixture, begin by adding a third of the wet ingredients to the bowl and whisking to combine. The add in half of the sifted dry ingredients. Add another third of the wet ingredients, followed by the remaining half of the dry ingredients and finally the last bit of wet ingredients. The batter is loose and pourable, but that is normal.
8. Fill and bake the cupcakes: Fill each cupcake case, until it is three quarters of the way full and bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cupcakes are set with no liquid batter in the middle and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely to room temperature before filling the center’s with the white chocolate cream and frosting with the cream cheese icing.

FOR THE WHITE CHOCOLATE CREAM

• 125ml whipping cream
• 50g white chocolate
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

METHOD

1. Melt the white chocolate: Place the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and heat in the microwave in 10 second bursts. Remove and stir the chocolate and return to the microwave. Repeat this process. This is the easiest way to melt the chocolate, which is susceptible to burning, without needing a double boiler. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
2. Whip the cream: Place the whipping cream in a large bowl, and using an electric beater, whip the cream to soft peaks, then add in the vanilla and whip to medium stiff peaks.
3. Fold the cooled white chocolate into the cream: Then gently fold in the cooled white chocolate into the cream. Place the white chocolate cream in a piping bag, until ready to use.

FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

• 500g cream cheese, room temperature
• 150g salted butter, room temperature
• 125g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

METHOD

1. Beat the cream cheese: Place the cream cheese in a bowl and beat, either with a hand held electric whisk or a stand mixer, on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Set this aside. We whip and fold this in separately to avoid a cream cheese frosting which is too loose and runny.
2. Cream the butter and the icing sugar: In a separate bowl, beat the butter until nice and fluffy, and turned from yellow to pale in colour. Then sift the icing sugar into the butter, add the vanilla and gently beat to combine.
3. Add the cream cheese to the buttercream: Finally, fold in the cream cheese until a smooth icing is formed. You can do this by hand, or on low speed with a whisk, being careful not to overmix. Place the cream cheese icing into a large piping bag, fitted with an closed star nozzle to frost the cupcakes.

ASSEMBLY

• cupcake corer
• piping bags
• closed star nozzle
• 24 whole cherries, for decoration (optional)
• 20g cocoa nibs, for decoration (optional)

1. Ensure the cupcakes are cooled to room temperature: Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.
2. Remove the centre of the cupcakes: Use a cupcake corer, or an apple corer to remove a bit of the centre of the cupcake and pipe in the white chocolate cream. You can nibble on the core and don’t need to add it back, but you can also “seal” the white chocolate cream if you want to.
3. Frost the cupcakes: Using a closed star tip nozzle, fill your piping bag with the cream cheese frosting. With your arm directly over the cupcake, pipe a ruffle and then keeping your arm steady, move your wrist in a twisting motion to create more ruffles, pulling up and away as you do this. If you need more direction on how to do this, see my instagram reel here.
4. Decorate the cupcakes as desired: I sprinkle a few cocoa nibs on the top of the cupcake, to echo the chocolate flavour included in the cupcake itself and a few cherries for decoration.

Recipe by adventureswithsugar.com