Looking for a red-themed dessert to make for Valentine’s Day? Consider these delicious red velvet cupcakes. They are as simple to make as a typical yellow cake, but with rich flavor added in. The finished product is a lovely deep red, the color of passion. This easy from-scratch recipe takes about a half hour to create and is sure to become a favorite way to show your partner a little love this Valentine’s Day.

Recipe yields two dozen cupcakes

Ingredients for Cupcake:

• 2 cups sugar
• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 oz. red food coloring
• ½ cup hot water
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Ingredients for Frosting:

• 1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened at room temperature (do not melt)
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together sugar and oil until well combined.
3. Beat in eggs until mixture is uniform in color.
4. Add in buttermilk, vanilla extract, and food coloring and mix until everything is well combined.
5. Mix in hot water and distilled vinegar.
6. Add flour.
7. Mix together baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to bowl.
8. Add cocoa powder.
9. Mix to combine all ingredients.
10. Line a muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.
11. Pour ½ cup of batter into each cupcake liner.
12. Bake 18-20 minutes or until top of cupcakes are spongy to the touch (Don’t overcook. Hint: It’s ok if a few crumbs cling to the toothpick, if doing the toothpick doneness method. In this case, cupcakes will finish cooking as it cools in the pan and be perfectly moist when cooled).
13. Remove cupcakes from oven and let them sit in pan for 5 minutes.
14. Place cupcakes on a cooling rack to finish cooling.
15. To create the frosting, cream together butter and cream cheese. Slowly add in powdered sugar and beat until creamy.

A sweet addition to any couple’s recipe book, red velvet cupcakes are perfect around Valentine’s Day not only for the rich red color, but the rich flavor as well! To dress up your cupcakes for V-Day, you also might top your frosting with cute heart sprinkles or just plain red, white, and pink sprinkles, if you like. Either way, it’ll be hard not to indulge in something so sweet for a holiday as special as this. Share with your sweetheart and they are sure to “Be Yours” in a heartbeat!

Story by Anne McLean