I’m not the biggest fan of cakes or cupcakes.  Sweets are not my weakness (potato chips and french fries are).  But, I do love making cupcakes, because they are so much fun.  They are cakes in individual portions.  And when you use the cupcake paper, clean-up is a breeze.

I bake a cake for all my co-workers’s birthdays in my group at work.  That’s about 8 cakes to bake each year.  I started this tradition a few years ago, when I felt that the morale in our group needed a boost.  This week was one person’s birthday, so I decided to make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for her.

Google turned up a number of recipes, but no single recipe had a 5-star rating.  So I sifted through a few, reading all the comments on the ratings, and finally decided to use the Paula Deen recipe but modified it according to comments from other people.  The cupcakes turned out pretty good.  The cake was moist, and the frosting was sinfully good. I put a bit of chocolate sprinkles on top just to add visual interest.  All my co-workers seemed to enjoy the cupcakes.

So, here’s the modified Paula Deen recipe for red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting:

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/2 pound cream cheese, softened
• 1 sticks butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
   

Directions