Yeah I know- its black velvet. But thats not the kind of cupcakes I made, so it wouldn’t do. And speaking of Alannah Myles, that was definitely a creepy song, wasn’t it? Why was she singing about black velvet, a little boy and religion bringing you to your knees? Weird. Maybe I missed the point of it but I always thought it was odd.

Sorry. I went off on a tangent there…

On to the cupcakes…

Red velvet. I had a bad experience with red velvet cupcakes. Back in the fall, I made Paula Deen’s recipe and basically ended up with lousy mousy-brown dry cupcakes that weren’t very good. I was super disappointed because, well, how can a woman like Paula Deen let me down!? Especially since red velvet cake is a Southern specialty. But honestly they were so unattractive I don’t even have pictures. Seriously. *cringes*

But I decided to try and renew my faith in red velvet by trying a recipe that Natalie @ bake & destroy said was a lot better than Paula’s. Of course its a Magnolia recipe, so it won’t renew my faith in Ms. Deen. However, I’m sure her oven-fried potato wedges will restore my faith in her as soon as I try them.

Here’s the recipe copied direct from Natalie, including her measurements and notes. Her notes are in bold italics.

RED VELVET CUPCAKES COURTESY OF MAGNOLIA’S BAKERY

Ingredients:

• 1 & ¾ cups cake flour
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 & ¼ cups sugar
• 1 & ½ large eggs*
• 3 Tbs red food coloring
• 1 Tbs + 1 ½ tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¾ tsp vanilla extract
• ¾ tsp salt
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• ¾ tsp cider vinegar
• ¾ tsp baking soda

*Because I converted this to a half batch some measurements came out weird. You could use two eggs, or you can use one egg, then beat another one up and use about 1 & ¾ Tbs of it.

Then you:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line pan with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside.
3. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.
5. In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not over beat.
6. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.
7. Fill cups ½ full* and bake 20-25 minutes, Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely.

*Please believe me about this, these things rise like crazy little mushrooms.

Okay well… I got 26 cupcakes, not 18. But I also opted to use two eggs. Mine weren’t as crazy when it came to rising either, they did, but not like crazy. So who knows what the puff I did. But I’d still recommend filling the liners only halfway; mine came up perfectly to the top using that amount. And they didn’t have a rounded top, they just barely made it to the top. Who the eff knows what I did. But I’ve made them more than once now and they always end up that way. *shrugs*

I used a cream cheese frosting that I just faked since I couldn’t find my recipe and didn’t want to look it up. Roughly I used 8 oz. cream cheese, ¼ cup unsalted butter, a pinch of salt, 2 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar and ½ tsp vanilla (because I don’t really like cream cheese frosting, and the vanilla adds a bit sweeter taste). I piped it on with a big fat Wilton star tip (2D). Then I topped them with red sugar crystals.

The color of the pictures doesn’t do them justice, they’re a deep red, and the frosting is a bright white. The color of the below picture especially came out yellowish, but thats because of the lighting.

All in all, this was a much better recipe. Moist and definitely a brighter red. Ya really can’t lose with a Magnolia recipe.

Ya can’t lose with a nice Cupcake Rehab shirt either… *shrugs* Just sayin’…