Red Velvet ~ A Southern Classic

Yikes! It's been a while since we've made a post. We have had an insanely busy two months with non stop orders and deliveries. That doesn't mean we haven't been taste testing new recipes. I've found a made from scratch Devil's Food cake recipe that I love but it does need to be tinkered with to adjust to our climate so I won't post that recipe yet.
Instead, I thought I'd share with you our Red Velvet recipe. I'll be honest, the first time we tried a red velvet cake, it was from a box mix and I was just NOT impressed so I never tried again. I thought, "Really? What is all the fuss about?" because I know people who will gush over red velvet cake. I finally searched out several recipes and spent a weekend baking away to get the perfect recipe. I absolutely LOVE this recipe! The recipe makes 36 cupcakes so we are almost always guaranteed to have a few leftover...which makes me happy!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

• 2 1/2 cups flour (I use all-purpose)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with 2 teaspoons lemon juice)
• 1 ounce red food coloring** (okay, that is a lot of red food coloring!) It doesn’t change the taste, so I only use 1 teaspoon unless the red color is really important to me.
• 4 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 330 degrees F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Spoon batter into 24 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
3. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Gently remove from oven (these are super-moist, and will collapse if you aren’t careful). Cool in pans on wire rack at least 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.