Red Velvet Cupcakes... that are maroon-ish

Yesterday I set about making Annie's Eats version of Red Velvet Cupcakes. I followed the recipe to a T and they came out perfect! My first taste test was not so satisfying though. You see, I don't often make cupcakes with oil and no butter. (If you haven't already realized, I do love my butter!) So all my picky palette could taste was oil. I frosted them anyways, because there is no point in letting them go to waste, and I am SO happy that I did not chuck them like I originally wanted to! I haven't had huge success with Annie's cupcake recipes, I find them all relativley dry and the cake flavorless - sorry Annie!

So the saving grace of these cupcakes was the fridge. Normally I would not recommend refrigerating cupcakes because it sucks any moisture right out - so if you can, and your cupcakes don't contain anything that may go bad by not being in the fridge, I would pop them into an airtight container and leave them on the counter. All that being said, I do refrigerate my cupcakes that have cream cheese frosting, or ones that are made with oil, because they taste SO MUCH better! You actually cannot taste the oil at all when you refrigerate these bad boys! I will alter the recipe next time I make it and probably add half oil and half sour cream. I know, I know, it sounds super weird, but I think you should trust me on this. I have never personally tried it, but so many people swear on their favorite cookbooks that adding sour cream to chocolate cake gives it this wow factor that you wouldn't believe. (They say the same about Mayo, but I like mayo in my egg salad, or on my sandwich - thank you very much!)

So without further ado, here is Annie's recipe (Mine were maroon because I had to make my own red dye because I didn't have any!)

Red Velvet Cupcakes (Yield: about 24 cupcakes)

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2½ cups cake flour
1½ cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1½ cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp. (1 oz.) liquid red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. distilled white vinegar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar. Beat on medium speed until well blended. Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared liners. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

It is also your lucky day, because I am going to share with you my personal cream cheese frosting recipe, which is quite a stretch for me :)

BEST EVER Cream Cheese Frosting

(as far I as know, I actually made this recipe up! WOOWOO!)

1/2 cup butter (DON'T USE MARGERINE, and if you do, please don't ever tell me!)

1/2 cup cream cheese

2 cups icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla

Directions: Ensure that both the butter and cream cheese are at room temperature. Whip together in mixer, until well blended on med-high speed, about 2 minutes. Add icing sugar, 1/2 cup at a time and beat for 30 seconds after each addidion, or until incorporated. (I wouldn't recommend putting all the icing sugar in for speed sake - the reason you put it in 1/2 cup at a time, is basically so it doesn't end up in a big white puff all over your kitchen!). Add vanilla and whip the icing for several minutes until super smooth and fluffy. If you are questioning whether you should whip it some more, after looking at it, you probably should!

(Whew... I just totally made those directions up by trying to remember what I do when I make the frosting!)

All this Red Velvet Cupcake talk has made me hungry... off to the fridge for a cupcake!