Fourth of July Red Velvet Cupcakes

Happy Birthday USA!

I love themed baking, as if I need another excuse to buy cute cupcake wrappers or sprinkles! Fourth of July always reminds of a hot summer day, with the barbecue going, colorful summer desserts in the making, and fireworks in the sky. This year we are heading over to a friends house and praying that the rains stops in Houston for just one night!

Last time I made Red Velvet cake I tried to substitute 1 cup cake flour for 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour. This was a trick, the cake was red, but the texture was not the light crumbly feeling that you get from using real cake four. So this time, I went out and bought real cake flour, which totals my flour variety count to 6 in my pantry. Why do I have so much flour!? I also used a soft-gel red food coloring last time, which I dissolved in water before hand, I don't know if I did something wrong, but the cake was more of a medium-dark red swirl. This time I used liquid red food coloring, which gave me a nice solid bright red color, beautiful!

Red Velvet Cupcakes and White Chocolate Frosting

Cake:

2 and 1/2 cup cake flour

1 and 1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

2 eggs, room temperature

1 and 1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

2 tbsp red food coloring

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp white distilled vinegar

Frosting:

1/2 cup white chocolate chips
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 tbsp butter, softened
1 tbsp sour cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake pans with cupcake wrappers and set aside. In medium bowl sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt. In a large bowl beat eggs, vegetable oil, food coloring, buttermilk, vanilla, and vinegar until well combined. Add in flour mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed, then beat for 2 minutes on medium-high speed. Spoon batter into cupcake wrappers until 2/3 of the way full and bake for 20-22 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and place on racks to cool completely before icing.

Melt white chocolate in microwave or in double broiler. Stir constantly till melted and cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally to maintain liquid consistency. Beat cream cheese, butter, and sour cream on high just until combined. Add in cooled white chocolate and vanilla, beat on high until combined. Ice cupcakes generously and enjoy!

Previously I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe for Red Velvet Cake, which I assume would be great (as everything is from her kitchen) if I had used the correct flour, but then I read The Way the Cookie Crumbles comparison of 4 red velvet cake recipes and went with her favorite. It also appealed to me the most as it was a quick mix of wet and dry ingredients and had a beautiful bright red color. So thanks to Apple A Day for the best red velvet cupcake I have yet to taste! For the icing I went with a White Chocolate Frosting, just because I wanted something different and the combination is something new and fabulous!