Red Velvet Cupcakes ? The Search For A Great Recipe Has Ended!

I cannot believe how many different people have mentioned how much they love these cupcakes. {Even on Cake Boss, Buddy has said how people love the red velvet cake so much!} So if it wasn’t enough that friends were telling me they love it, Buddy just pushed me over the edge to want to try one! On a regular trip to Starbucks  a month or two ago {yeah, this is delayed slightly…}, I couldn’t help but gaze admiringly at the lonely red velvet cupcake staring back at me from behind the baked goods display. I had a feeling of hope and excitement bursting out from inside of me. {I’ve always held Starbucks to a high standard considering I have enjoyed everything I’ve ever gotten from there.}

So I made the purchase {along with my caramel macchiato}, and made my way to a comfortable leather chair to enjoy this cupcake I now owned. I peel back the paper liner, and the cupcake truly was beautiful. Bright, deep, rich red colour. A white icing with red sprinkles. Oh boy, was I excited… I bit into the cupcake…

Uh, what the #@!! ?????? Stale and tasteless, with a pasty icing crusted with a strange layer that had formed on the outside of it. Maybe it was because the cupcake had been in the display for far too long… I’m not sure, but it was one of the worst things I had ever tasted in my life. I posted the picture on Facebook, with my opinion of it, and was shocked to see just how many people couldn’t believe what a bad experience I had gotten out of that cupcake! I’ve even brought up this type of cupcake in conversation with people, and they’ve all insisted that it’s an amazing cupcake, possibly one of the best!

So I figured, I might as well try to make one myself. My first batch was a flop. It was also a huge waste, because the batch was way too big {oops!}, and I had made some of my own cream cheese frosting to go with it. {Damn, what a waste…} Then, 5 or 6 more {significantly smaller} batches followed. All of them just didn’t do it for me! Last night, I received another comment on the Facebook cupcake picture, and thought to myself “that’s it!”…

I searched long and hard, and found a recipe on this blog that turned out absolutely amazing! When first removed from the oven, they were a bit crumbly, and reminded me of a whole grain muffin rather than a cupcake. {I didn’t even use whole grain flour, I was confused…}

But after keeping them covered in the muffin cups/tins that they baked in over night, this morning they had that “velvet” texture that I have been searching for! The taste was also quite enjoyable. A slight hint of tasty cocoa, with a soft and moist texture! JACKPOT!! Two things that I did different from the original recipe were:

I used pink gel food colour instead of red liquid food colour. It gave a very natural red/brown colour, without having to use so much food colouring. I just added the gel colour to the cocoa powder, along with a smidge of water to allow it to form more of a paste, and I was good to go!
I cut the recipe in half, because… Well, to be honest, I was afraid that this one would have turned out just as bad as the rest I’ve tried. But I was wrong! I now wish I would have made the whole batch.

Instead of re-posting this recipe, I encourage you to check out the recipe on the original blog. {I don’t really like doing that whole “let me claim this as my own” kinda thing. And this cupcaker deserves some credit!}

Filed under: desserts, Recipes, Reviews, starbucks Tagged: cake, chocolate, culinary, cupcakes, dessert, muffin, recipe, red velvet cupcake, starbucks, Sweet