Chocolate Rose Red Velvet Cupcakes
These Chocolate Rose Red Velvet Cupcakes look as beautiful and smell as sweet as a dozen red roses but with how good they taste they won’t be around for too long!
Hey! It’s Melanie again from Garnish & Glaze. I enjoy getting flowers like any other girl but honestly, I’d rather have chocolate! Who’s with me? Today I’m sharing some beautiful and tasty red velvet cupcakes. 
Red velvet everything is pretty popular at this time of year and for good reason! The flavor from the butter and a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder make these cupcakes quite a delicious. Buttermilk and cake flour makes the cake crumb light, tender, and moist.
Cream cheese frosting is the typical topping to red velvet cake, but isn’t everything better with chocolate?! I combined the best of both worlds by topping the cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Oh my, it is divine!
Oh, and unlike most red velvet cake recipes that call for 2 bottles of red food coloring (that is a LOT!), this one only has 1 1/2 tablespoons but still looks pretty red.
Why Do Cupcakes Stick to the Wrapper?
Muffins and cupcakes sometimes stick to the wrapper if it has not been thoroughly sprayed with non stick spray.
Also, it is important to cool cupcakes before removing the wrapper.
Cakes and muffins shrink a bit as they cool, so they’ll actually loosen their grip on the wrapper slightly as they come to room temperature.
What is Red Velvet Cake?
Red velvet cake is a red, red-brown, mahogany, maroon, crimson or scarlet colored chocolate layer cake, layered with white cream cheese or ermine icing.
The cake is commonly served on Christmas or Valentine’s Day.
Can Cream Cheese Frosting Be Frozen?
Cream cheese frosting is ideal for freezing.
It is sturdy, with plenty of fat, and it will do better in the freezer than a more delicate icing.
Chocolate Rose Red Velvet Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
- 2 1/3 cup cake flour
- 2 tablespoons cocoa
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 3/4 cup butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 tablespoons red food coloring
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup buttermilk
For the Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 10 tablespoons butter room temperature
- 5 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 2 1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
For the Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line two muffin tins with cupcake liners.
- In a bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
- In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy and then add the sugar, mixing until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes).
- Mix in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla and food coloring and beat for 2 minutes.
- While mixing on low, in 3 parts, alternate between adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed, mixing until smooth.
- Scoop batter into cupcake liners (an ice cream scoop works great!).
- Bake for 20-22 minutes until toothpick come out clean. Remove cupcakes from tin when cool enough to touch.
For the Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Beat the butter and cream cheese with and electric mixer for 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla and salt. Starting at a slow speed, mix in the cocoa powder. Mix in the powdered sugar a little at a time. Beat until smooth.
- Place frosting in a a piping bag fitted with a closed star pipping tip (2D). Pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Form a rose by starting to pipe the frosting on in the middle of the cupcake and spiraling out until you get to the edge.