Red Velvet Goodness

Red Velvet cake is one of those flavors that brings back memories. It reminds me of coffee shops in Richmond, Virginia where I grew up. I've been thinking a lot about Richmond lately. It's an amazing city - small enough to get to know all your favorite restaurants, coffee shops & dessert places but large enough to still be alive with culture, diversity and interesting people. The best banana pudding is at Comfort on Broad St. The best bread pudding at White Dog on Main St. The best ice cream hands down at Gelati Celesti on Broad St. When I was in college I knew exactly where to go for almost any craving...late night pizza, damn good ethiopian food, and the best coffee.

Durban, South Africa where I'm living now, reminds me a lot of Richmond. Small enough to already have my favorite meals at my favorite restaurants. Right now it's dessert at Cafe 99. Still figuring out the coffee situation - but I think I have a winner in The Green Bean - free trade coffee from Ethiopia that the owner roasts himself in the shop. I'm on my way out the door to the farmer's market.

Back to red velvet cake though - I love it so much that there was no debate about what I wanted for our wedding cake. I froze the top tier to save for our 1st anniversary - but on the day after the wedding we grew inpatient and ate a half defrosted red velvet cake - bad move! I recreated our wedding cake for our first anniversary. K was delighted and it was devoured before I could take pictures!

Since then I've made the cupcake version quite a few times for different occasions including just last week for our going away party. I've tried a few different recipes - some with too much cocoa some with not enough - and in the end my favorite recipe comes from Paula Deen with a little tweaking. I add more cocoa for more chocolate flavor and substituted yogurt for 1/2 the oil.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Adapted from Paula Deen, 2007

2 ½ cups flour (minus 1 tbsp)
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cocoa powder
¾ cups vegetable oil
¾ cups plain yogurt
1 cup buttermilk, room temp
2 large eggs, room temp
1 tsp white distilled vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin pans with paper.

Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. In separate bowl, mix together oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined.

Divide the batter evenly and bake for about 20 minutes (mine only took 18mins), turning pan once, half way through.

Remove and cool before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 lb. cream cheese, room temp
2 sticks butter, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

In mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter & vanilla until smooth, add sugar on low speed and beat until light & fluffy.