Celebrate Valentine’s Day with these gorgeous Red Velvet Cupcakes. Homemade red velvet cupcakes covered in clouds of real chocolate frosting and topped with a chocolate heart.
Love is in the air 💕
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to celebrate with a little Red Velvet Cake – who’s with me?
These gorgeous Red Velvet Cupcakes are soft and sweet, and topped with clouds of chocolate buttercream made with real chocolate. Perfect for your loved ones!
Red Velvet Cake is one of my favourite cake flavours. I’ve had a gorgeous red velvet cupcake from Sprinkles in Los Angeles and one from Hummingbird Bakery in London. And this is my homemade version.
While, red velvet cake is usually served with cream cheese frosting, I’ve added a sweet, silky smooth chocolate buttercream – and trust me, it pairs beautifully with the gorgeous red velvet cake.
Most people who have never had red velvet cake before think it’s either strawberry flavoured or tastes like chocolate cake. It’s easy to see why that’s the case, when most red velvet cakes are vibrant red in colour and cocoa powder is generally used as an ingredient.
But neither of those rumours are quite true. Red Velvet is more like a buttery vanilla cake that has a hint of cocoa. It is neither here nor there. Neither vanilla or chocolate. But there is something about this in between flavour that really hits the spot.
These Red Velvet Cupcakes are soft and fluffy on the inside, with a truly tender crumb. And the chocolate frosting is just the icing on the cake.
Chocolate buttercream made with cocoa powder is good, but sometimes, for an extra special treat, I make my frosting using real chocolate. It’s really easy and it adds an extra depth of flavour, making your frosting smooth and luscious.
I usually use dark chocolate (semi-sweet) rather than milk chocolate, as you already have the sweetness from the sugar and butter – what you need is that rich chocolate flavour.
The finishing touch is a chocolate heart – perfect for Valentine’s Day or just because 💕 No matter the occasion, everyone will fall head over heels for these delicious homemade Red Velvet Cupcakes.
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PinDescription
Red Velvet Cupcakes topped with swirls of homemade chocolate buttercream.
Ingredients
Red velvet cupcakes
- 175 grams (1 and 1/4 cup) plain flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 level tablespoons cocoa powder
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) caster sugar
- 115 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons red food colouring
Chocolate frosting
- 115 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 100 grams (2/3 cups) dark chocolate
- 375 grams (3 cups) icing or powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C (360 F). Line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift flour, baking soda and cocoa powder, then add the sugar – give it a good whisk. Pop the butter into the microwave for a short time, 20 seconds or so at a time, stirring until it is just melted. Give it a stir with a fork to eliminate any lumps.
- In a separate mixing bowl, add eggs, vanilla and butter and whisk together until smooth. Add yogurt and give it a stir – don’t worry if it goes a little lumpy. In a separate small bowl, add the food colouring and vinegar.
- Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture, along with the food colouring and gently fold until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared liners and pop into the oven.
- Bake for approximately 18 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Set cakes out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
- To make the frosting, place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for a couple of minutes until pale and creamy. Meanwhile melt the chocolate in a microwave, stirring in between 20 second bursts, until just melted and set aside to cool a little.
- Once the butter is very pale and creamy, add half of the powdered sugar and one tablespoon of milk and beat on low until the sugar is incorporated. Then, add the rest of the sugar and the milk, and again beat on slow until the sugar is incorporated before turning up to medium for another minute or so.
- Next, add in your melted chocolate to the buttercream mixture, ensuring the chocolate is still smooth and melted but is not warm. Beat until the chocolate is completely mixed through. Transfer your frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large circular tip. Pipe swirls onto each cupcake.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 437
Keywords: Cupcakes, Cake, Red velvet, Chocolate, Frosting
This recipe was first published on Sweetest Menu in July 2016.
These were delicious!
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed them Josh!!
Red velvet has definitely always confused me! Lol. It’s not something we had growing up, and then all of a sudden it was this BIG thing but I never really knew what it was?!? LOVE the idea of pairing chocolate with red velvet!
I know how you feel! It’s not very big over here so everyone is always like what IS THAT? Hahaha Regardless red velvet cake tastes amazing! 🙂
Ah Jess, you’re not the only one! I can’t tell you how many times this has happened with me, especially with remote controls and books!! It’s right there in front of me but I just can’t spot it when I need it! I could swear there was something paranormal happening with me LOL! But now that I know I’m not the only one, it’s a relief! We can at least cross mysterious ghosts off the list hahaha!!
I LOVE your version of these red velvet cupcakes! I couldn’t agree with you more! Cream cheese has always made it to the top of these cupcakes but it is so pleasant to see a decadent chocolate swirl on these! Pinning! <3
Oh I am so glad to hear that I’m not the only one Samina! Thanks for the pin too! 🙂
These are gorgeous Jess! What a wonderful celebration for your Mum too 🙂
I love the pairing of red velvet and chocolate – I’ve never seen it before but I have to try it soon! And you definitely aren’t the only one. I am always guilty of thinking I’ve lost my phone, madly searching through my handbag, only to find that it was in my hand all along… #yourenottheonlyone.
Happy cupcake-ing!
Thanks Amy! I’m so glad I’m not the only one! 😉
Red velvet cupcakes were actually the cupcake that started my baking addiction! It was the first recipe I ever made completely from scratch by myself and I was hooked from there!
I even wanted to open up my own cupcake shop before being diagnosed with coeliac disease as I was constantly creating cupcake creations – but then cupcakes became mainstream and I decided they were boring haha!
Wow Kristy! That’s so cool! I feel like Australia is missing a really good cupcake store like Sprinkles Cupcakes but I guess that’s what makes it special – when you have to travel halfway around the world to get it! 🙂
These are pretty as a picture! Red velvet always seems special to me. And that frosting! I just want to grab a spoon!
Thanks so much Amanda! 🙂
Hahaha, hidden in plain sight! That’s the worst! Sounds like your mom had a pretty sweet celebration anyway 🙂 I LOVE red velvet with chocolate frosting… It really does make a wonderful complement of flavors on the palate! And your cupcakes are so gorgeous! My favorite way to decorate RV is with those beautiful red crumbs!
Right?! I thought I was losing my mind! haha 🙂 Aww thank you Lynn!
Oh my gosh those cupcakes look so moist and delicious! I love the method of making them (mainly not requiring a mixer for creaming 🙂 ) ill definitely give these a try!
Im totally with you on using melted chocolate here, just takes it to the next level and although i do sometimes use cocoa, its always real chocolate for my buttercreams 🙂
Thanks so much Linda! I agree – this method is so simple and still produces a really soft and fluffy cake. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I love your recipe for red velvet cupcakes. I wanted to copy this recipe but when I tried it was 9 pages long. ridiculous. I guess we are not to suppose to copy these recipes.
Hi Joyce, I’m not sure what happened but there is now a print button under the recipe title that should help! I hope you enjoy these cupcakes!