Name: Red Velvet Cupcakes with Creamy Vanilla Icing
Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising); 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened; 2 cups sugar; 3 large eggs, at room temperature; 6 tablespoons red food coloring; 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa; 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1 1/2 teaspoons salt; 1 1/2 cups buttermilk; 1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar; 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda; 1 recipe Creamy Vanilla Frosting

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Red Velvet Cupcakes with Creamy Vanilla IcingEpicurious

This is one of our most popular cakes at the bakery. Half of the customers love it because they haven't eaten it since their grandmother made it when they were kids, and the other half because they think the red color is really neat. But everyone thinks it's delicious.

Epicurious Test-Kitchen Tip:

This recipe also makes 2 dozen cupcakes. Use 2 muffin pans, each with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups, and line each cup with a paper liner. (There's no need to grease the cups.) Arrange the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and bake the cupcakes, switching positions of the pans halfway through baking, until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a rack before icing. To ice, mound about 1/4 cup of frosting on top of each cupcake and use an icing spatula to make a swirl on top. If desired, decorate with colored sprinkles.

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