The Red Velvet cupcakes are soft and delicious sweets, easy to prepare topped with cream, cream cheese, and mascarpone. These cupcakes with their intense red color (in fact, the meaning of Red Velvet is red velvet) are the mini and single-serving version of the classic red velvet cake, an American dessert characterized by these red layers filled with a delicate white cream, usually buttercream. Both the preparation of the cake and these cupcakes is really simple: no electric mixers or stand mixers are needed, just a bowl and a whisk to mix the dry ingredients first and then the liquid ingredients. As happens with any cupcake and muffin recipe, the batter should be mixed very quickly, so no long preparation times are needed, and in less than 5 minutes the batter is ready to be poured into the muffin cups. Moreover, the peculiarity of our recipe is that the base of the cupcakes is without eggs and without butter, and it can easily become a vegan cupcake by simply replacing the milk with a vegetable drink such as almond milk and using plant-based cream along with a plant-based creamy cheese for the frosting. In short, this Red Velvet cupcake recipe can be customized to make everyone happy!
The preparation is very simple: in a bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, or baking soda. Mix and form the liquid ingredients, which are milk, oil, vanilla extract, and red gel food coloring. Mix quickly and pour the obtained batter into 12 muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (about 180 degrees Celsius) for about 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting by whipping the cream to which we add powdered sugar and cream cheese. When the muffins are cool, decorate them with the cream, heart-shaped sprinkles, and the crumbs of the muffins themselves, which can be obtained by simply cutting the top of a muffin and crumbling it.
Easy, quick, delicate, and delicious, these Red Velvet cupcakes are certainly a fabulous idea for Valentine’s Day, Christmas holidays, Mother’s Day, and in general whenever we want to prepare a dessert that is delicious and impressive but with minimal effort. All that’s left is for you to try them!
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 12
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Seasonality: Valentine's Day
Ingredients to make Red Velvet cupcakes
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp baking soda (or baking powder)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- vanilla extract
- red food coloring
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3.5 oz mascarpone
- 3.5 oz cream cheese
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
Tools to make Red Velvet cupcakes
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Whisk
- 12 Muffin liners
- 1 Ice cream scoop
- 1 Oven
- 1 Piping bag
- 1 Star tip
Steps to make Red Velvet cupcakes
Start making the red velvet cupcakes by pouring all the dry ingredients into a bowl, beginning with the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder or baking soda, and a pinch of salt. Mix quickly with the whisk to combine all the ingredients well.
Add the liquid ingredients starting with the milk, oil, vanilla essence, vinegar, and red gel coloring, and mix quickly with the whisk to obtain a perfectly homogeneous batter.
Line a muffin tray with 12 paper liners and pour the batter into each, filling them 3/4 full.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (about 180 degrees Celsius) for about 20-25 minutes. Check doneness with a toothpick, inserted into the center of the cupcake; it should come out perfectly dry. Let the cupcakes cool for 5 minutes in the tray, then remove them and let them cool completely on a wire rack.
In the meantime, whip the cream with the powdered sugar and cream cheese using electric beaters or a stand mixer.
Insert the prepared frosting into a piping bag with a star tip and decorate each cupcake. Finish with colored sprinkles and optionally with muffin crumbs obtained by simply cutting the top of a muffin and crumbling it.
Here are the ready Red velvet cupcakes.
Simo and Cicci recommend
You can store Red Velvet cupcakes in the fridge, tightly closed in an airtight container, for up to three days.
It is highly recommended to use red gel food coloring, avoiding the liquid one which would inevitably alter the consistency of the cupcakes. A good alternative is the use of red beet powder, which should be added to the dry ingredients.
For decoration, you can also use fresh fruit like strawberries, raspberries, currants, or blueberries.
