Red Velvet Cupcakes

Make Ahead and Storage

Keeps in the fridge for 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Making Red Velvet Cupcakes

Tap a step to highlight it, or turn on Cook Mode for large type and step-by-step focus.

1. Heat the oven to 180°C / 355°F and line a 12-hole muffin tin. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate.

   Mark done

2. Whisk the sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla and red colouring. Stir the vinegar into the buttermilk.

   Mark done

3. Fold the flour mixture and the buttermilk into the wet mixture in two additions, mixing until just smooth.

   Mark done

4. Fill the cases two-thirds full and bake for 20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cool completely.

   Mark done Start 20 min timer

5. Beat the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar until smooth and swirl onto the cupcakes.

   Mark done

Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

Something wrong or unclear in this recipe? Report a problem with this recipe.

Tips for Success

• Do not overmix.
• Add the vinegar to the buttermilk at the last minute.
• If your oven runs hot, check at 16 minutes.
• Keep frosted cupcakes cool.

Why the Method Is What It Is

Flour, cocoa, buttermilk, oil, red colouring: what makes red velvet different from a chocolate cake is how little cocoa it has. The flavour is a faint chocolate, with a tang from the buttermilk.

The vinegar and bicarbonate react to give a soft, tender crumb. Stir the vinegar into the buttermilk just before it goes into the batter, so that the fizz does its work in the oven rather than in the bowl. Mix the batter only until the flour disappears. Overmixed batter is tough and the red turns brown.

Colouring is a matter of taste. A tablespoon of liquid red colouring gives a deep red, and gel gives the same effect with less. Beetroot juice is milder and produces a more dusky colour.

Bake at 180°C / 355°F for 20 minutes. Cool completely, then swirl on the cream cheese frosting. Keep the frosted cakes cool, since the cheese frosting softens at room temperature.

Good Alongside

Cold milk · Strong coffee · Fresh strawberries · Hot tea

If You're Missing Something

• Out of buttermilk? The usual stand-in is a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar stirred into 250 ml of ordinary milk and left five minutes; it is thinner than cultured buttermilk, so a batter may need a little less of it.
• A dry vermouth keeps for longer than an open bottle of white wine and is the closer swap than a random white left in the fridge; for an alcohol-free version, use the same amount of stock with a squeeze of lemon.

Red Velvet Cupcakes FAQ

Red Velvet Cupcakes Nutrition

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

Your notes on this recipe

Cooked this? Keep a note for next time

Your own rating out of 5

5 stars★ 4 stars★ 3 stars★ 2 stars★ 1 star★

Your note

Save note

Private to you: notes and ratings are saved in this browser only, are never sent anywhere, and other readers cannot see them.