A Pink and Red (Velvet) Extravaganza!

I love it when I have a great plan for something and it falls totally flat.  I mean, the falling flat part isn't so great, but Plan B often seems to work out better than Plan A would have.  That's what happened this week with these Red Velvet Cupcakes.

Two of my girls are in a belly dancing class, and for their little Valentine's Day party a few days ago,  I decided to make the totally faboo brownies from my Baked cookbook.  They were going to be great;  I had big plans that involved heart-shaped cookie cutters, marshmallows, and pink sanding sugar.......but THAT was Plan A, and we've already established that it didn't go so well.  Let's just say that when baking, accidentally using chocolate candymelts instead of ACTUAL chocolate is not recommended.

Anyway, Plan B was implemented at the last minute, and what started out as normal red velvet cupcakes turned into a gigantic Red-and-Pink-a-thon.   They were super Valentine-y, and the girls loved them.....but when have you ever seen a room full of 9 year old girls NOT love anything that was pretty, sweet, and pink??  Exactly......I have a built-in fan base.  Know your audience, people.

So these cupcakes are Martha's red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  The funny thing is that I made these once before and totally skipped the last step of adding baking soda and vinegar, which ended up producing dense little red velvet brownie-like cupcakes.  An interesting coincidence, considering it was the screwed up brownies that brought on this latest batch of red velvet.  Or maybe it's just interesting to me.


Anyway, this time they turned out great!  This is not a difficult recipe at all (provided you don't skip steps or ingredients).  The cake was moist, and a pretty red without being too freakshow-red  (come on, you know how red velvet can be...it's the attention whore of the cupcake world).  The cakes all had nice round domed tops, but I only got 22 cupcakes plus one dinky one, instead of the 24 that the recipe said it would yield.

Martha's version just has the frosting spread on, but I blinged it out a little, as you can see.  First, I tinted the entire batch of frosting a lovely pale pink, which I thought would be nice with the red cake.  Then, I split into two bowls, each of which got a different flavor of extract, in place of the traditional vanilla.

One got a little bit of coconut extract, which was quite nice when paired with the red velvet.  I also mixed a few drops of pink food coloring into a bowl of sweetened coconut and after I frosted the cupcakes, they got rolled in the beautiful pink flakes.  They were like big pink snowballs!  I loved them!  Although, it should be noted that if you're making cupcakes for a group of kids, they will eat every. single. other. cupcake. before they touch even ONE coconut one.  No matter how pretty they are.

The second batch got a little bit of peppermint extract, which is so, so good in the cream cheese.  I piped a nice tall swirl of it with a big fat star tip onto the rest of the cupcakes, and then topped them with some teeny tiny heart shaped sprinkles.  Both styles of cupcakes turned out very pretty, I thought, and together they were a big tray full of Valentine fun.  It was a pink and red (velvet) extravaganza!

Red Velvet Cupcakes
from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes


Makes 24
Preheat oven to 350º




In a medium bowl, whisk together:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
1 tsp salt


In an electric mixer, whisk on medium-high:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil


Add, 1 at a time, beating well in between:
2 eggs


Mix in:
1/2 tsp red gel-paste food color
1 tsp vanilla extract


Reduce speed to low.  Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of:
1 cup buttermilk


Stir together in a small bowl:
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp distilled white vinegar


Add soda and vinegar to batter and mix on medium, 10 seconds.


Divide among lined tins, filling each 3/4 full.  Bake about 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the centers comes out clean.  Transfer to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.   Top with cream cheese frosting.