| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr 15 min |
| Prep: | 50 min |
| Inactive: | 30 min |
| Cook: | 55 min |
| Yield: | 16 cupcakes |
Ingredients
- 15 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- 13 ounces granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons, plus 2 teaspoons red food coloring
- 1 1/4 teaspoons vinegar (white or apple cider can both work)
- 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/8 cup water
- 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 pound butter, room temperature
- 2 pounds powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- For the cupcakes:
- Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
- Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.
- In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix oil, sugar, and buttermilk until combined. Add eggs, food coloring, vinegar, vanilla and water and mix well. Add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time and mix on low, scraping down sides occasionally, and mix until just combined. Be sure not to over mix, or the batter will come out tough.
- Line a 16-cup cupcake pan with paper liners, scoop the batter into the liners and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.
- For the cream cheese frosting:
- Whip the butter and cream cheese together in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until creamed. Gradually add powdered sugar to the mixture and scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and mix until combined.
- The frosting can be used right away, or stored in the refrigerator up to a week.
- Frost cooled cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 16 servings |
| Calories | 967 |
| Total Fat | 60 g |
| Saturated Fat | 25 g |
| Carbohydrates | 104 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 81 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Cholesterol | 138 mg |
| Sodium | 488 mg |
Reviews
You should use melted butter instead of the vegetable oil it’s more moist
I’ve made this recipe several times over the last decade and I’ve had to tweak it so much, it’s a completely different recipe now. The original recipe is inedible. 1-1/2 cups of vegetable oil…..ONE AND A HALF CUPS?!?! I’ve gotten it down to 3/4 of a cup and it’s still too much oil. This recipe is so oily, it leaves a ring of oily red grease wherever you happen to set the cupcake down. You could likely go down to 1/2 cup of oil without losing any of the moisture thanks, in large part, to the buttermilk. Recipe as-is, I give 2 stars. Only for teaching me a valuable baking lesson I wouldn’t have otherwise been privy to.
My tweaks that I’ve given it over the years has earned me the title of Best Red Velvet Cupcake among my friends and family. No one will buy a red velvet cake anymore–they come to me for my recipe. I do love how little cocoa is in this recipe–no sarcasm–I genuinely hate traditional red velvet for the strong chocolate flavor and this one is so mild, it’s quite delightful.
I agree with most commenters about how the icing recipe is too much. It’s WAY too much. Halve it. You won’t miss the extra waste. Unless, of course, you enjoy a 2-1 ratio of icing-to-cupcake. If that’s your scene, then go crazy.
If you don’t have the time and patience of tweaking this recipe for years and years as you go, I suggest finding an alternative because this is not the one.
I was so excited to try this recipe when I was a wide-eyed 17-year-old watching this episode of Throwdown. I thought, “There is no way this recipe beat out Bobby Flay’s.”
And you know what?
I was right.
Cupcakes are bland at best with a strong flavor of oil. Frosting recipe made an excessive amount so I suggest halving the recipe. I added a squeeze of orange juice into the frosting just to bring a tad of citrus into the flavor to break up what would be overwhelming sugar flavor. With all that said, it’s an easy recipe to follow and serves well for either a novice cook or the general cupcake connoisseur.
My family absolutely loves this recipe! They turned out delicious, but I only use half the frosting. Mom says she could eat the frosting with a spoon and she is not usually a fan of frosting.
I was hesitant about this recipe because I didn’t think it had enough cocoa powder in it.
I made them anyway; used my own cream cheese icing and I think they were tasty; but,
I think I want to try them again with more cocoa…
The directions said to line 16 baking cups, I got 24 cupcakes and 8 mini cup cakes. The cupcake itself was ok. The icing was terrible. I was very generous with the icing, and had to throw out the rest. It just makes too much. I will not be making these again. Very disappointed.
This is a great recipe! I think why so many people are coming out with oily cupcakes is that they are getting the flour and sugar amounts wrong. The easiest thing to do is go to your local hard ware store and get a cheap kitchen scale. I recently just bought the Throwdown cookbook and it had the flour and sugar in cup measurments!
Flour= 3 1/2 cups
Sugar= 3 cups
I hope this info help people with these cupcakes.
Flour= 3 1/2 cups
Sugar= 3 cups
I hope this info help people with these cupcakes.
Delicious on its own!
My brother said “don’t put the icing on it, I like it how it is…”
My brother said “don’t put the icing on it, I like it how it is…”
This was a really bad recipe..I made these for my 3 year anniversary and will make it up by finding a new recipe tomorrow..way too oily. My cupcakes were just oil cakes:
I made these for a Girls night out and all the ladies could not get enough!! I will use this recipe when ever I make red velvet from now on!!