Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream

I made these gorgeous red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese buttercream for Red Nose Day this year, and it was such a crowd-pleaser, it would be a crime not to share the recipe.

Red velvet with cream cheese frosting is such a classic flavor combination. The cake is soft and super fluffy while the buttercream is just the perfect amount of tangy and sweet.

I find that cream cheese frosting can be hard to master because it can split and curdle so easily. That’s why I’ve included my favorite hack to saving any split/curdled buttercream.

Yield: 7-8 Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

RED VELVET CUPCAKES-

• 100ml Whole Milk, lukewarm
• 1/2tsp Distilled Vinegar
• 125g Plain Flour
• 2/3tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 1tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2tso Baking Soda
• 125g Light Brown Sugar
• Pinch of Salt
• 75ml Vegetable Oil (Any neutral oil)
• 1 Large Egg, room temp
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract
• Red Food Dye

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING-

• 150g Unsalted Butter, softened
• 200g Cream Cheese, room temp
• 200g Powdered Sugar
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract

STEPS:

RED VELVET CUPCAKE-

1. Pre-heat the oven to 175°C and line a cupcake tray with 7-8 cupcake liners
2. In a large bowl, add the milk and vinegar. Give it a quick stir and set the bowl aside to allow the milk to curdle
3. Dry Ingredients: In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the plain flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, light brown sugar, and salt
4. Wet Ingredients: To the curdled milk from step 2, add vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla extract. Whisk until it is a homogenous mixture
5. Add red food coloring into the wet ingredient bowl until you have a vibrant red mixture. You want the color to be slightly redder than you think is needed because it will lighten when the dry ingredients are added. I like to add the coloring at this stage to avoid over-mixing the flour at a later stage
6. Add the dry ingredients bowl into the wet ingredients and mix until it is just combined
7. Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners. Fill them in between 2/3 and 3/4 of the way up and give the tray a tap against the counter to release any big air bubbles
8. Pop these into the oven at 175°C for 18-22min. Peirce it with a toothpick and if it comes out clean, they are done! Let them cool completely before moving on to the buttercream/frosting

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING-

1. The key to a good cream cheese frosting is for the cream cheese and butter to be at the same texture before doing anything. So press your butter and cream cheese with your finger to check the firmness. You want both to be soft enough for your finger to press into but not melting. If one or both are too firm, pop it into the microwave for a few seconds
2. In a small bowl, give the cream cheese a quick whisk to loosen it up and remove any lumps
3. In a large bowl, add the butter and whip it for 10min using an electronic mixer. You want the butter to become extra fluffy and pale in color. Add the vanilla extract and continue mixing. When it looks like pale white frosting, add the whipped cream cheese and slowly mix to combine
4. Once the mixture looks smooth, add the sugar and mix until you have a beautiful fluffy frosting! (If your buttercream crudles, read my tips and tricks below to fix it)

DECORATE-

• The buttercream will be fluffy and pipable so you can decorate them however you like. But if you want to replicate mine, here is what I did:

1. For my cupcakes, I wanted an ice cream sundae look so I used an ice cream cream scooper to top my cupcakes. To do this, scoop up the buttercream and scrape off any access. Take the cupcake and press the top bump into the buttercream so some of the buttercream can spill out around the edges of the scooper. Press the release until the scooper comes off of the buttercream
2. The rest of the decoration was made out of colored fondant to fit the theme of Red Nose Day! I made a big red ball for the top and rolled a bunch of little balls of pink, yellow, and blue fondant. Then made little flowers with blue and yellow. Now just scatter them all over the cupcakes

How To Fix Split/Curdled Buttercream:

When you’re making buttercream, there is a chance it may not go smoothly. One minute, it will look normal and the next, the mixture will split and curdle. When this happens, do not panic, and do not throw your buttercream away! This is how you can fit it:

The moment you see the mixture split, you want to use temperature manipulation to force your buttercream back to normal. The first option is to use a strong hair dryer. Grab a hairdryer and put it on the hottest setting, then begin to heat the sides of the bowl. While you’re heating the bowl, place your mixer on slow-medium speed and keep the mixture moving. Keep the dryer and mixer moving until the buttercream is smooth. The second option is to use a double boiler, this is my preferred option. Grab a pot and bring some water to a simmer. Place the buttercream bowl over the pot without it touching the water. The steam will gently heat the side of the bowl and you just need to mix the buttercream until it becomes smooth.

After heat, the buttercream will most likely look smooth but it could be too runny. Transfer the bowl into an ice bath and keep mixing the buttercream. The cold will help solidify the buttercream until it reaches your desired stiffness for decorating.