| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 50 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Inactive: | 10 min |
| Cook: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 12 cupcakes |
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 50 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Inactive: | 10 min |
| Cook: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 12 cupcakes |
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups canola oil
- 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice)
- 1 teaspoon white wine or cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon red food coloring (recommended: Select natural food coloring)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoons natural cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- Red and black food coloring
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake tin with 12 paper liners (preferably silver).
- For the cupcakes: Crack the eggs into your mixer. Add the canola oil, buttermilk and vinegar. Drop in the food coloring and vanilla. Let it stir up until well mixed.
- Put the sugar, flour, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Whisk together until well mixed. Then sift this right onto a big piece of waxed paper, it makes it easy to transport to the mixer. Make sure there are no clumps.
- Turn your mixture on low and slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients as it’s mixing. Turn the mixer up just a bit and combine well. Stop and scrape down the bowl.
- Use an ice cream scoop to evenly dish the batter out into the cupcake liners, about 3/4 full.
- Pop the cupcakes in the oven until a cake tester comes out nice and clean, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove and set aside to cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting: Add the softened butter and confectioners’ sugar and cream together in a mixer. Add the milk. Stop and scrape down the bowl, getting all the confectioners’ sugar incorporated. Add a couple drops of black food coloring and then some red food coloring. Mix in the vanilla and a pinch of salt. Mix well.
- Fill a pastry bag or snip the corner of a zip top bag. Fill with the frosting. (To fill the bag easily, wrap the bag around a cup and wrap the edges of the bag around the top to keep the bag open while filling with frosting.)
- Frost the cupcakes, making a little squiggly line down the middle, and then filling in little swirls to look like the brain. Repeat on the other side and for the rest of the cupcakes.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 670 |
| Total Fat | 36 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Carbohydrates | 84 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 63 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 48 mg |
| Sodium | 376 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 670 |
| Total Fat | 36 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Carbohydrates | 84 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 63 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 48 mg |
| Sodium | 376 mg |
Reviews
I have never made red velvet cupcakes before and because I love Annes recipes I decided to try these ones. Having read the other reviews I decided to use just 1 cup of oil. They turned out beautifully. I place a bowl of water in the oven whenever I bake, don’t know if that made a difference but they were perfectly cooked after 20 minutes. I waited to do the frosting until my 8 year old daughter came home from school and we had great fun doing it together, we stuffed the cupcakes with some cherry jam for a more gruesome treat!! A wonderful way to start the halloween holidays!!
tasty!!
DElicious cupcakes! I didn’t do the brain decoration, and I think that made the entire process a lot simpler. When I baked them, I had to wait until the edges were slightly burnt for the inside to cook, but they still tasted delicious.
Took the advice of others and increased the food coloring to one TBS. I also baked this in a heart-shaped springform pan for a Valentine’s cake. I put all the batter into that pan, it rose a lot in the middle and cracked, but I didn’t care. It needed almost an hour of cook time b/c it was a cake and needed to cook in the center. That meant the sides were a little OVERcooked. I imagine cupcakes would be perfect. The taste reminds me of a pound cake.
we love them,a little more food coloring but was so good!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t know why this recipe has such mixed reviews but giving the overwhelming number of positive to negative reviews I gave the recipe a try.
I literally had little puddles of oil underneath the cupcake holders when I took them out of the pan. I pulled them apart and they looked incredible oily. I’m from Utah- maybe there is something about the altitude that makes them turn out so oily or not? Anyway- yuck. It was pretty gross.
Made this for a bake sale and it was a hit! The only thing is that I would add a little more red food coloring for a more red tint in the cake but beyond that it came out perfect. Not oily at all! And the frosting!! So yummy!
I to am an experienced baker and homecook and this cupcake is the best. NOT oily at all… Not sorry at all… On to the next……
I had a order for a customer for red velvet cupcakes..so after reading the reviews i tested this one. Im a experienced baker (gourment & homecook let me tell ya…CUPCAKES ARE VERY OILY! I cannot sell these..you can see the oil thru the jumbo white cupcake liners. It was not “red” enough for me either. I could just imgaine a customer eating this cupcake asking for tons of napkins! I know quaility..i know taste and this cupcake is NOT the one. Sorry on to the next….
I’ve never had red velvet cake before and I think I just found my new favorite cake! Very moist and tasty! I’m sure it will be a hit at work for my co-workers birthday tomorrow. Thanks Anne!