I’m in the mood to reminisce. This past weekend my Aunt Judy celebrated her 60th birthday. I helped her celebrate her nostalgia-themed party with these Bright Red Velvet Cupcakes. Before we get to the cake, let’s jump back some 20something years and visit Joy and Judy, circa 1985.
My Aunt Judy is gorgeous. Know how I know? Because in this picture she makes the mid 80’s look damn good. And if you can rock the 80’s and still look classic and chic, you’re doing something right.
I’m feigning coy. At 4, I knew darn well how cute I was.
Even from the tender age pictured above I marveled at how my Aunt could have a closet solely dedicated to shoes.
That deck that Judy and I are standing on would eventually collapse as my Dad walked across it one day.
Before that collapse, I would crawl under that deck exactly one time. I thought I heard kittens. Turns out there were kittens under the deck, but there were also spiders. I don’t function rationally around spiders. I do ridiculous things to get away from them. Yea… I only did that once.
The palm tree behind us. I would grow up to think it a good idea to grab onto a large palm frawn and swing several feet off the ground like Tarzan. Turns out that’s not a good idea, because those palm frawns break. And as I lay on the ground after what felt like a tremendous fall, I thought, “Oh! Tarzan swung from vines!”. Good thing I didn’t grow up around any vines. I surely would have broken my body.
Happy Birthday Judy, and many more!
Now let’s talk cupcakes…
From time time I change up my Red Velvet Cupcake recipe. Sometimes I like the red to have a little more pop, other times I like the Red Velvet to have a sexy chocolate character.
The frosting, as is with most of my Red Velvet creations, is Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting.
Bright Red Velvet Cupcakes
adapted from Gourmet Cookbook and makes 2 dozen cupcakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
scant 1 cup milk
1 Tablespoon red food coloring
Put a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute in between each addition. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture alternately with the milk and red dye in 3 batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until just incorporated.
Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes, or until the cakes a pick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes then remove cupcakes from muffin tin and let cool on a wire rack.
Frost with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting.
June 24th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Oh my! How I’m enjoying finding your blog. Looks delicious and so pretty…
June 25th, 2008 at 12:14 am
LOL- if you can rock the 80’s…and yet it is so true.
Great looking cupcakes.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Hey, i made red velvet cupcakes as well yesterday - although my pictures are not that professional!! love ur website joy!
June 25th, 2008 at 2:12 am
I do love red velvet cupcakes…but I love the picture even more. Thanks for sharing!
June 25th, 2008 at 3:41 am
I love red velvet and yours look so moist and delicous!
June 25th, 2008 at 5:20 am
Gorgeous! I’ve never seen cupcakes so red!
June 25th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Hello,
I’ve been enjoying reading your blog. Your stories and recipes have been delightful. I haven’t yet had an opportunity to make any of them but I have bananas ripening on my counter, so, guess what? It’s banana cupcakes A LA Joy the Baker! I’m topping them with your brown sugar cream cheese frosting! Is it thick enough to pipe? I’m learning how to pipe frosting(Wilton). Any helpful hints?
I also wanted to make sure it was okay that I added you to my blog list.?
Thanks!
June 25th, 2008 at 7:03 am
I love the old photo and the storys that go with it!
Somesay I’ll have to try red velvet cake. Beleve it or not, I have never made one.
June 25th, 2008 at 7:15 am
My first boyfriend loved red velvet cake and I made him one for his birthday. Great cupcakes.
June 25th, 2008 at 8:29 am
These cupcakes are so cute! I’ve never had red velvet cake, but I’m very curious about it.
Has there been a winner picked for the May Cupcake Hero yet?
June 25th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Good point about the 80s! I love the vibrant color of these cupcakes.
Your memories are sweet. Great thing you were scared off by spiders and didn’t spend too much time under that deck!
June 25th, 2008 at 11:03 am
These are some great looking cupcakes! The pictures are fabulous and they look delicious!
June 25th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Thanks Joy for the photo and the memories. You are truly a gem! Eveyone loved the cupcakes, especially the birthday girl–me!
Love ya, Aunt Judy
June 25th, 2008 at 11:29 am
happy birthday to your aunt and the cupcakes look yummy.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Joy, hi from Indiana. The 1980s photo of you and my dear friend Judy (we had much fun together then and still do)is great, and you write beautifully. I am going to have to try the cupcakes (anything with chocolate is okay with Jerry)and maybe some of your other recipes as well. While I love to cook, baking is not my forte, so it will take your beautiful pictures and great verbage to motivate me.
You ARE a joy,
Susie Z
June 25th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Whoops, I was wrong - no chocolate. So much for my memories of red velvet cakes from the 1960s!
June 25th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
You read my mind - I’ve been craving red velvet cake and yummy icing for days now. Thanks for the perfect excuse to make these treats! And I love you kitty hunting story, so cute!
June 25th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Wow - those are so bright! They’re stunning.
As is the idea of brown sugar cream cheese icing. Yummmmm.
June 25th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Gorgeous Dahling. Seriously. Beautiful cupcakes. (Im jealous of that red color, mine always come out this funky muted weird red.)
June 25th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Bright Red they are! These look yummo!
June 25th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Your cupcakes look amazing!
June 26th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Great cupcakes. And I agree… not many people managed to make the 80’s look good but your aunt definitely pulled it off
June 26th, 2008 at 5:35 am
What a lovely post full of great memories. I can just picture you swinging from a palm tree…. hahaha.
Happy Birthday Aunt Judy. Here is to many more beautiful years to come!
And - those cupcakes are gorgeous!
June 26th, 2008 at 5:36 am
Oh, I love the red!! I’m all for a more vivid red velvet cupcakes!! I’ve got to try making them one of these days; i’m just drooling over your beautiful photos!!
June 26th, 2008 at 8:50 am
That IS bright cupcakes! I love it!
June 26th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Thanks for your comment over at my blog! I’ve been slowly trying to check out all the writers leaving comments at the Smitten Kitchen.
Your blog is gonna live in my bookmarks- love the pictures- I want to eat everything.
Also, thanks for the red velvet- was out at my local dessert bar where they do serve a very pretty and tall slice of cake. I had never seen one before, only heard about it. It’s amazingly red. Of course, it started a 30-minute-long discussion about how to ditch the food coloring for something natural. Never really reached a conclusion, but that was okay because our mouths were full of dessert.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:29 am
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June 26th, 2008 at 10:01 am
How absolutely yummy these look. I adore red velvet.
June 26th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
You’ve out done your previous red velvets! These look great
June 26th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
But why red? I know its tradition, but to add all that food coloring to a great recipe that will taste the same without it… I don’t get it.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Oh they look so pretty. Oh how I love your blog! I’ve tried out the Rosemary bread (my brothers beg me for it now XD) and that one Caramel Butterscotch Apple Pie cake of ultimate power (excellent!) Now I’m waiting for my Red Velvet cupcakes to finish baking, I’m so excited! Thanks for the great recipes!!
June 26th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
great post–even now, i’d still probably crawl under a spidery deck if i thought i heard kittens! the cupcakes look wonderful…it’s been too long since i’ve had RV cake!
June 27th, 2008 at 4:44 am
Those cupcakes look good! What an amazing shade of red!
June 27th, 2008 at 7:23 am
So there’s no cocoa powder used in these cupcakes? I thought that was a requirement of red velvet cupcakes, no?
June 27th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
The cupcakes are gorgeous - I so prefer red velvet in cupcake form than cake form.
You’re right - Judy is gorgeous.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:05 am
thanks for a great recipe. I made these over the weekend then delivered most to the neighbors, everyone loved them. Hubby will be both sad & glad that he missed them.
July 1st, 2008 at 6:41 am
I can’t wait to try this recipe. My red velvet cupcakes always look so angry (dark red/almost burgundy). This recipe is just in time for 4th of July! Quick question: what type/size tip are you using to frost your cupcakes?
July 10th, 2008 at 7:05 am
[...] * Next time, I want to try baking: Bright Red Velvet Cupcakes!!! Check it out here: joythebaker [...]
July 13th, 2008 at 7:43 am
[...] comes to mind. I happened to come across several recent blog entries for Red Velvet Cupcakes (see this one on Joy the Baker). I thought about that, but I wanted to do something they hadn’t seen before. So, I [...]
September 8th, 2008 at 12:45 am
I just found your blog via Baked Perfection and was so excited about this recipe. I’ve been looking for a delicious Red Velvet for awhile now and these look spectacular with the brown sugar frosting. I’ll be trying tomorrow! I love your blog and will be back for more goodies!
October 27th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Any suggestions on how to get that good red color WITHOUT using ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS or colorings? Maybe a hint of beet juice, raspberry juice, etc?
Same for the chocolate frosting that sounds great, but unfortunately uses Ovaltine. I’d like to stay away from manufactured, highly-processed, or artificial ingredients. Any tips for a more healthy frosting?
Thanks - I love reading this blog and the great tips.