These Red Velvet Cupcakes are soft, light, moist, and topped with an easy cream cheese frosting. Perfect for any occasion!
One of the most requested recipes I’ve had in the last couple of months has been for red velvet cupcakes. I love red velvet but it’s such a unique flavor and can be a little hard to get just right.
I spent a while testing different variations when it came to these cupcakes, from using just butter to just oil and also a combination of the two. I think it’s safe to say that more cupcakes went through my kitchen than I care to admit, but I finally landed on the perfect recipe.
These cupcakes are buttery, moist, soft, and taste just like a classic red velvet cupcake. I topped these cupcakes with a simple cream cheese frosting, but I’ve included some notes for a couple other options you can try too!
How To Make Red Velvet Cupcakes
You’ll start by whisking together the dry ingredients:
- Cake flour: Cake flour has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour, which helps create a lighter and softer cake. If you don’t have any cake flour on hand, I’ve included a note in the recipe for how to make your own. I do find that actual cake flour works best to create a soft cupcake, my favorite brand is Pillsbury Softasilk.
- Cocoa Powder: You’ll only be using 2 tablespoons of unsweetened natural cocoa powder in this recipe. It provides a little chocolate flavor, but it’s not too overpowering.
- Baking Soda + Salt: To help the cupcakes rise and for flavor!
Then you’ll mix up your wet ingredients:
- Butter + Sugar: I use unsalted butter and granulated sugar in this recipe. It’s important to cream together the butter and sugar for 4-5 minutes. This will incorporate more air into your cake batter and create a lighter cupcake.
- Egg + Vanilla Extract: You’ll be using one large egg and a teaspoon of pure vanilla extra. A room temperature egg is best, so just be sure to set it out ahead of time with your other ingredients.
- Distilled White Vinegar + Red Food Coloring: A little vinegar helps the cupcakes rise and enhances the color of the red cupcakes. I used liquid food coloring for these cupcakes.
- Oil: Wait, what?! I found that the cupcakes made with just butter were too dry and the cupcakes made with just oil were a little bland. The solution? I used a combination of butter and oil to give the cupcakes a buttery taste and keep them moist (just like my lemon blueberry bundt cake!).
- Buttermilk: It’s best to set the buttermilk out ahead of time to come to room temperature. Instead of mixing all of the buttermilk directly in with the rest of the wet ingredients, you’ll alternate mixing it in with the dry ingredients.
Once you’ve mixed up the cupcake batter, you’ll divide it evenly between 16 cupcake liners in muffin pans and bake them. Make sure you don’t overfill the cupcake liners, otherwise the cupcakes will overflow. I only fill my liners about halfway full, it won’t seem like much but the batter rises quite a bit in the oven.
I used my homemade cream cheese frosting for this recipe because it pairs perfectly with red velvet. If you’re looking for a different kind of frosting, my homemade vanilla buttercream or even chocolate buttercream would be delicious on these cupcakes too.
For the frosting, I used my Wilton 1M piping tip. I absolutely LOVE that piping tip and use it all of the time. You can use it to frost a tall swirl (like in these pictures) or make a simple rose design. I have a full tutorial for how to frost cupcakes here, super easy too!
Baking Tips For Red Velvet Cupcakes
- When measuring your cake flour, avoid scooping it from the container with your measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour around, spoon it into your measuring cup, and level it off with the back of a knife.
- Once you’ve whisked together the dry ingredients, I suggest sifting them. This will ensure that there are no lumps of cocoa powder in your cupcakes.
- Only fill your cupcake liners about halfway full. It won’t seem like much, but the batter will rise quite a bit as the cupcakes bake in the oven.
- You should be able to get about 16-17 cupcakes with this recipe. You can crumble up one of the extra cupcakes and sprinkle it on top of the frosting for a little extra decoration!
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the red velvet cupcakes:
- 1 and 1/3 cups (145 grams) cake flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 tablespoons (10 grams) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup (60 grams) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) oil canola or vegetable work well
- 1 tablespoon liquid red food coloring
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
- 2/3 cup (160 ml) buttermilk room temperature
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 (8-ounce) package brick-style cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 2 cups (240 grams) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the red velvet cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two standard 12-count muffin pans with 16 cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Then sift the dry ingredients to remove any lumps of cocoa powder. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed for 4-5 minutes. Add the egg and mix until fully combined, then mix in the oil, red food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Mix in the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Make sure to mix each addition until just combined and be careful not to over mix the batter.
- Evenly distribute the batter between all 16 cupcake liners in the prepared muffin pans, only filling each one about halfway full.
- Bake in separate batches at 350°F (177°C) for 15-18 minutes or until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Carefully remove the cupcakes from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the cream cheese frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and mix for about 30 seconds-1 minute until well combined and smooth. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and continue mixing until fully combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, pipe the frosting on top.
Another home run Danielle! Made these for the 4th with blue sprinkles and blueberries on top so they were red, white, and blue! God bless America and Happy Independence Day to you and yours.
Excellent recipe! I use the Magnolia Bakery recipe when I need a cake or a big order of cupcakes. However, I have been looking for a high quality and great tasting recipe for when I want to make only 1 dozen cupcakes. I’ve found it – great taste, crumb, colour and texture. Thank you.
hi Danielle, my granddaughter asked me to bake for her red velvet cupcakes, your recipe looks awesome. she is HIGHLY allergic to eggs, will it be okay to omit the egg or should I substitute it with something else? thank you! can’t wait to bake these.
Hi, Olga! You would still want to replace the egg with something. I haven’t tried it, but a flax egg may work.
Hey Danielle,
I wanted to make this in a cake form using (2) 9″ round pans. Do you know what the measurements would be for this?
Thanks!
Hi, Ashley! I actually have a red velvet cake recipe here.
Hie!
I tried this recipe once and it turned out super delicious cup cake. Only thing I felt was i could sense sugar powder Texture in cream. I mean it was not smooth cream. Sugar wasnt completely combined in cream.
Tentatively How long to mix powder sugar in cream cheese to get well mixed cream if using electric hand mixer?
You only need to mix the powdered sugar in until just combined. Did you make sure to use powdered sugar and not something else? If so, you can try using a finer powdered sugar and see if that helps.
The frosting it’s to soft it melts? The flavor it’s gorgeous! But it’s hard to pipe
Hi, Rosalia! Did you make sure to use a block/brick of cream cheese? If you use cream cheese spread, it will cause the frosting to be runny.
Hi Danielle, this recipe is superb👍 I couldn’t believe how amazing it turned out, everyone keep asking for more. For a larger quantity (like 8 cups of flour) how much of the ingredients should I use?
Thank.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! I haven’t tried it, but I’m sure you could increase the recipe to make a larger quantity. I would avoid increasing it too much though, otherwise, you may end up with too much batter and accidentally over mixing it.
Hi! Is it alright to reduce the sugar? 1 cup might be too sweet.., thanks! Hoping for your reply 😊
You could probably reduce it to 3/4 cup. I wouldn’t recommend reducing it more than that though because it will change the taste and texture of the cupcakes.
Hi Danielle,
Your red velvet cupcake recipe is superb! <3
I would like to ask what size are these cupcakes? Is it 3oz?
Thank you.
I’m honestly not sure how much each one weighs, sorry!
Cannot fault the cupcake recipe. Really soft cupcakes with a great flavour. The frosting came out runny and I’ve now read the comments and found a block of cream cheese should be used instead of spreadable. I’ve been baking for a while and did not know this so I’d make it clear in the recipe and then I’m sure it would be 5 stars as the frosting tastes great.
Hi, Sarah! The recipe does say to use “brick-style cream cheese” for the frosting. I’m glad the cupcake turned out well for you and hopefully the frosting turns out better for you next time!
Can you tell me if you can use the same ingredients to make a red velvet cake?
Hi, Tracy! I have a red velvet cake recipe here.
If you cannot find the cake flour (soft a silk) what’s the next best thing to use to have it taste the same?
You can make a cake flour substitute with all-purpose flour and cornstarch. I have a note in the recipe for how to make it 🙂
I realise that when making this recipe, the batter always gets lumpy at the last step when I add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk because the dry ingredients don’t mix well. Is this an area of concern and is there anyway I can fix this? Thank you 🙂
It definitely shouldn’t get lumpy at the end. You could try sifting in the dry ingredients and stir them in by hand with a rubber spatula.
heyyyyyy,
the cupcakes were AMAZING but do you have any idea on how to fix crusty tops?
Have you checked your oven temperature with an oven thermometer? Sometimes if your oven is too hot or the cupcakes are a little over baked that can happen. You can store them without the frosting in an airtight container overnight and that should help soften the tops.
Hi, if i don’t want to use red colouring and keep it natural, should I substitute anything in the recipe ? As it’s 1 tbsp. Thanks.
You can just omit it, no need to adjust anything else in the recipe.
This is my granddaughter’s favorite cupcake and I nailed it thanks to your recipe. I read the instructions throughly before I baked then I compared your recipe with Magnolia’s and decided to go with yours. The cupcakes were moist and the frosting perfect.
Wonderful recipe! I’m new to baking and I noticed that the cupcakes were a bit dry and not as moist as I was hoping. Everyone else that tried them said it was fine, but I was wondering if there is a way I can make sure that the cupcakes are moist. The frosting was amazing!!
Hi, Kady! As long as you followed the recipe and used oil and buttermilk, the cupcakes should be pretty moist. If you felt that they were a bit dry they may have baked too long. You can try reducing the baking time slightly next time and see if that helps.
Hello, I plan to make these this weekend but have a couple of questions. First, so you think it would be okay to double your recipe? Just want to make sure it wouldn’t compromise taste or texture. Second, since I plan to double, two pans will have 12 cupcakes instead of the 8 per pan (in your original recipe). Do you recommend that I adjust the baking time? Thank you so so much. Hope you can reply.
Hi, Rosie! Yes, it’s fine to double the recipe. You shouldn’t need to adjust the baking time either. Hope that helps!
Wow!!! You are the queen of cupcakes! As a novice baker i have tried many different cupcake recipes, this one def takes the #1 spot. Perfect cupcakes every time. Thank you soooo much for taking the time to share this. Magnificent!!!!
Hello! Is it ok to use ap four instead of cake flower?
Hi, Josie! I do recommend cake flour to ensure that your cupcakes rise taller and turn out softer. However, I do have a cake flour substitute that uses all-purpose flour in the recipe notes.
Hi danielle, really like this recipe, wanted to do a pink velvet cupcake for breast cancer month, do I omit the cocoa and change the colour from the red to pink?
This was amazing, I used 1/2 a tablespoon crimson pink& it came out gorgeously red..I could still taste the dye though think I’ll use beet powder next time,substituted the butter with margarine and it still came out perfect. Lovely recipe