Recipe Tuesday :: Red Velvet Cupcakes

It was inevitable that I would eventually get around to the universally desired Red Velvet Cupcake at some point.  This was the requested flavor of another student at work and I admit I was interested in trying it.  I already knew that the secret to Red Velvet cake batter was vinegar.  I know, right?!  But it apparently gives that little tang to the flavor of it all.  I'll admit I myself am not a Red Velvet lover.  I want the flavor to be more chocolatey than it is and I think a quote I found from another blogger was the most accurate description of  Red Velvet flavor I've ever heard.  "Red Velvet is a confused cupcake.  Is it vanilla?  Is it chocolate?  It's hard to say."  Honestly I feel a Red Velvet Cupcake is only a means to eating a lot of cream cheese frosting and I would really rather have carrot cake in my mouth.  But it wasn't my birthday, so Red Velvet it is!

I had this brilliant idea of filling these cupcakes with a creamy vanilla filling, since the last one were so successful.  I needed some vanilla bean, so I ordered them on Amazon and they were set to arrive on the day I needed to make the cream filling.  Alas, they did not.  Actually they still haven't arrived even though they should have been here June 3rd....  Maybe I'll make some Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes at a later date.  Whenever they get here.  :/

So regular old Red Velvet it was.  I used this recipe by Annie's Eats and it was pretty spectacular!  The cream cheese frosting recipe she has is also spot on and I ended having to make up a little half batch because I was piling it on top of all the cupcakes.  But it was seriously that good.

See I got about this far when I ran out of frosting...I couldn't leave those others naked or *gasp* use store-bought frosting.

I also ended up dusting the top with some of the cocoa powder for decoration and to give it just a boost in the chocolate department.  The overall rating at work was high!  People who said that they didn't like Red Velvet said they liked these, so I guess I did an okay job.  ;)  And the birthday boy took home 4 for himself...