Red Velvet Cupcakes

I can’t believe it has taken me so long to make an Ina Garten recipe for the blog! I love the Barefoot Contessa. I dream about having her house in the Hamptons, but I’ll have to settle with watching it from my one bedroom in NYC and reading her cookbooks. I seriously want to make everything from her cookbooks. I decided on Red Velvet cupcakes because I know they are a crowd pleaser! I personally don’t understand the fuss about red velvet. They just never taste chocolatey enough to me!  But I do love cream cheese frosting. And I can’t only bake things with peanut butter and chocolate, so Red Velvet it is!  This is a great recipe too.  The cupcakes are moist with a hint of chocolate flavor, and the cream cheese frosting on top is SO good. I must say though, as much as I love Ina, why does she bake with extra-large eggs? Every other baking recipe calls for large eggs! But I trust her, so I bought extra-large eggs just to make these.  Dedication.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs, one at a time.  

Look at that red swirl!

The finished batter.  

Into the muffin tins.  I’m not very neat when I do that…

Gorgeous frosting! 

Note that if you want to pipe on the icing rather than just spreading it on, you should make 1.5 times the recipe.  I started out piping it on and quickly realized I was going to run out of icing!  

Mmmm

Recipe from Ina Garten
Yield: 15 cupcakes

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1 tablespoon liquid red food coloring
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
Red Velvet Frosting, recipe follows

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 1 minute, until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients alternately in 3 parts, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mix until combined. Stir with a rubber spatula to be sure the batter is mixed.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups with a 2 1/4-inch ice cream scoop or large spoon. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool completely in the pans and frost the cupcakes with Red Velvet Frosting.

Red Velvet Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (3/4 pound)
Place the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and mix on medium speed just until combined. Don’t whip! Add the sugar and mix until smooth.