Dark Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting

These Red Velvet Cupcakes are dark and rich, and come with the most delicious and tangy vanilla bean cream cheese frosting. They are the perfect treat for Valentine’s Day, but are also very popular for Halloween or Christmas!

Do homemade cupcakes sound intimidating to anyone else? Just me? I have to admit: I’m really not a fancy baker or anything, and I definitely don’t have the patience to spend hours on cake decorations.

That’s why these cupcakes are easy. Just like my Easy Chocolate Cupcakes, they don’t require any amazing baking skills apart from being able to measure out ingredients and handle a mixer. And piping on the frosting? Please. Just pile it on and call it a day ?

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

Cupcake ingredients

Ingredient notes

• Buttermilk: This is essential to create a flavorful red velvet cupcake. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, use regular milk and stir in 1 tablespoon white vinegar. Stir well, then let sit on the counter for 10 minutes before using.
• Sour cream: Again, an essential ingredient for some tang in the cupcake and for a moist crumb. If you don’t have any sour cream on hand, feel free to use Greek yogurt. Regular yogurt is too runny and will not work.
• Cocoa powder: I use regular, unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed). You can alter the amount of cocoa powder used to make a darker or a redder/lighter cupcake. I really like a lot of cocoa powder for a rich cocoa taste, but if you want bright red cupcakes, cut the cocoa in half and use more cornstarch instead.
• Cornstarch: The cornstarch is essential in this recipe for a great texture. It serves the purpose of turning regular all-purpose flour into more of a cake flour.
• Vinegar: Again, an important ingredient in anything red velvet. White vinegar, white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar all work well.
• Red food coloring: You can adjust the amount of red food coloring to create a deeper shade of red, if you want. The more cocoa you add, the more red food coloring you need to get a shaded red.

Frosting ingredients

Ingredient notes

• Icing sugar: Make sure to sift your icing sugar before adding it for a smooth frosting!
• Cream cheese: Soften your cream cheese by letting it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. That way, your frosting will be easier to mix.
• Vanilla bean: If you don’t have any vanilla beans on hand, feel free to use a teaspoon of vanilla extract instead.

How to make Red Velvet Cupcakes

1. Start by combining the dry ingredients in a bowl. I use a whisk to evenly distribute the baking soda for evenly risen cupcakes!

2. Next, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

The mix will look crumbly at first:

You have to keep mixing for it to start looking creamier and fluffier. This will take about 5 minutes and is an essential step in making a great cupcake! So be patient until it looks more like this:

3. Next, beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat the mix until creamy and fluffy:

4. Now add the remaining wet ingredients, including the food coloring.

Cream until fully combined. The mixture will look like it curdled a little at this point, that’s totally normal and is due to the buttermilk.

5. Finally, beat in the dry mix, a little at a time. You don’t want to overbeat the cupcake batter, but you do want it completely smooth and lump-free.

Just keep your mixer running on low while you add the dry ingredients a spoonful at a time. Beat until the batter is smooth and velvety.

6. Evenly divide the batter between 14 lined muffin cups (I use the 12 cups from the muffin pan, plus 2 silicone cups.

If you don’t have any silicone cups, just stack 3 muffin liners together and use them free-standing. Place the filled muffin pan and the filled stacked muffin liners on a cookie sheet to bake.

7. While the cupcakes are baking, you’ll want to whip up the frosting. Just cream cream cheese, sour cream, butter and scraped vanilla seeds until smooth.

Then gradually add the icing sugar until your frosting is finished. This makes a LOT of frosting (because it isn’t a red velvet cupcake without a piled up frosting dome on top in my house). If you want less, just cut the frosting recipe in half.

If you want to pipe your frosting onto the cupcakes, transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle (the frosting isn’t firm enough for a star tip). If you just want to pile it on with a spoon, that’s perfectly fine, too – just leave the frosting in the bowl.

Either way, chill until ready to use it!

8. Once the cupcakes are done, allow them to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Then remove them from the pan and place them on a cooling rack until completely cooled.

Do not attempt to frost warm cupcakes, trust me. I’ve learned this the hard way.

But once they’re cool, pile on the frosting and serve!

Recipe tips

• Cream the ingredients for the cupcakes well, and make sure you achieve a smooth and velvety batter without floury lumps in the end. This will give them the shiny, flatter top. If you don’t mix the batter well enough, they will more closely resemble muffins in looks and texture.
• I always use cupcake liners for these, but remove them for frosting and serving. Feel free to leave them on, I just really don’t like the way the frosting clings to the liners and makes a huge mess of eating them.
• Do not skip sifting the icing sugar for the frosting, it really does make a huge difference!
• If you don’t chill the frosting before adding it to the cupcakes, or if your cupcakes are still warm when you frost them… The frosting will become runny and drip down the sides.
• The color of your batter will give you a hint what the color of your final cupcakes will be. If it looks too brown, add more red food coloring. If you want it more cocoa-y, add another tablespoon of cocoa powder plus ½ tablespoon of buttermilk.

Storage tips

The cupcakes keep well for 3 days without the frosting. Once fully cooled, wrap in plastic wrap and store in the pantry until ready to use. Frost right before serving.

The cupcakes also freeze well. Wrap the fully cooled, unfrosted cupcakes in plastic wrap (each individually!). Then place in a large ziploc bag and freeze for up to 3 months. To defrost, unwrap and place on a wire rack at room temperature for several hours, until no longer frozen. Frost right before serving.

The frosted cupcakes keep in the fridge for a day.

More easy Valentine’s Day recipes

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.