Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting — If you’ve ever wanted to make red velvet cupcakes from scratch that are as good as those you’d find in a bakery, try this hassle-free recipe!
Homemade Red Velvet Cupcakes
Red velvet cake and cupcakes are so popular, but so many problems tend to plague them. They’re either from a box, which feels like cheating, or they’re from scratch but are horribly dry, and you need a mixer and will dirty every bowl in your kitchen in the process.
These are the best red velvet cupcakes I’ve ever had, and the easiest recipe you’ll ever find. If you’ve ever wanted to make red velvet cupcakes from scratch that are as good as those you’d find in a bakery, try this hassle-free recipe. You’ll come out looking like a superhero baker to anyone you serve them to.
They’re made in one bowl, no mixer, no creaming ingredients, and it’s a cupcake batter that’s more like a muffin batter. Whisk together wet ingredients, fold in the dry, pour into liners, and bake. Five minutes of active work never tasted so good.
My issue with most red velvet cakes and cupcakes is that they’re dry, and dry anything just isn’t worth the calories. Why bother?
These are incredibly moist from the trifecta of moistening and tenderizing ingredients: oil, buttermilk, and Greek yogurt. I stopped at nothing to make sure they weren’t dry.
It took me quite a few batches of cupcakes to perfect this recipe. When people think that recipe development isn’t a big deal and you just throw things in a pan and it’ll work out, well, sometimes you get lucky, but most times it’s not that easy, especially for a recipe like this.
The same can be said for questions I get along the lines of, “Can I substitute coconut sugar for granulated sugar,” or “Can I use whole wheat pastry flour for all-purpose?” Well, maybe you can, and please let me know how that works for you.
Determining if I should use 1 egg, one egg plus yolk, or two eggs; butter or oil and if butter, should it be melted or creamed; buttermilk or just regular milk/cream; to include Greek yogurt or sour cream and if so, how much; how much cocoa powder gives enough pop of chocolate; what kind of leavener to use (baking soda or powder); one of each, or only one or the other, and which one; cake flour or all-purpose.
The choices can be overwhelming, but I’ve done the legwork, and the cupcakes and red velvet cake frosting are total keepers.
For baked goods that I want to soft, springy, and bouncy, like cakes, cupcakes, and muffins, I generally prefer using oil to butter because oil does a better job keeping things soft and moist.
The same can be said for buttermilk. It does a fabulous job of tenderizing and softening the texture and crumb of breads and cakes, and when in doubt, I always opt for buttermilk over plain milk or cream.
I added a couple hearty dollops of vanilla Greek yogurt. You could probably use a bit more buttermilk if you don’t keep Greek yogurt on hand, but yogurt is thicker and sweeter than buttermilk, so it makes the batter a little thicker and sweeter, and helps the cupcakes stay sweet and soft.
Many recipes for red velvet aren’t chocolaty enough. While these aren’t as chocolaty as chocolate cupcakes, the chocolate flavor is pleasantly noticeable.
They rise beautifully to the point I was worried they were rising a little too well. I filled my liners to a solid three-quarters full (this is a non-issue if you only fill to 2/3-full), but thankfully they stay contained, and the resulting cupcakes and hearty and full, not skimpy, wimpy, little cupcakes that no one reaches for.
I also made a one-bowl, no-mixer vanilla cream cheese frosting for the red velvet cake cupcakes that I simply spread on.
These homemade red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting are soft, tender, springy, and moist. There’s just enough chocolate flavor to satisfy your chocolate cravings, without being overdone.
The smooth, rich homemade cream cheese frosting is the perfect complement to the cupcakes, and adds the right amount of zip and tang.
So good, so easy, so soft, fluffy, and moist. Perfect for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or any old Tuesday.
What’s in Red Velvet Cupcakes?
To make the red velvet cupcakes, you’ll need:
- Egg
- Granulated sugar
- Buttermilk
- Canola oil
- Vanilla Greek yogurt
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Red food coloring
And to make the red velvet cake frosting, you’ll need:
- Cream cheese
- Unsalted butter
- Vanilla extract
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Milk
How to Make Red Velvet Cupcakes
Simply whisk together the wet ingredients, then stir in the dry ingredients. Add in just enough food coloring to turn the batter red.
Fill your muffin cups 3/4 full, then bake the red velvet cupcakes until risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
While the red velvet cupcakes cool, make the homemade cream cheese frosting. If your frosting is too thick, add a splash of cream or milk to gradually thin it out.
Frost the cooled cupcakes with the red velvet cake frosting and optionally garnish with sanding sugar.
Is There a Buttermilk Substitute I Can Use?
If you’re the type of person who doesn’t tend to keep buttermilk on hand, you can make your own by adding about 2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup regular milk, letting it stand 10 minutes to curdle, and then use as indicated.
Or, you can buy a tub of Powdered Buttermilk and it’s shelf stable for years. It’s the perfect solution for that once-in-a-blue moon recipe you make that calls for buttermilk.
Can I Make a Red Velvet Cake Instead of Cupcakes?
Although I haven’t tried it, I surmise this cupcake batter could be used as cake batter. I’m guessing a 9-inch square cake (not a 9-inch round pan because they’re smaller and it could overflow) would be about right.
Can I Freeze Cupcakes?
Yes, you can bake these red velvet cupcakes and freeze them for later. I recommend freezing just the cupcakes and making a fresh batch of cream cheese frosting when you’re ready to thaw and enjoy them.
How to Store Red Velvet Cupcakes
The homemade red velvet cupcakes will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days. I personally am comfortable storing cream cheese-frosted items at room temperature, but if you prefer to store in the fridge, that’s fine. Just note that the fridge will dry the cupcakes out much more quickly.
Tips for Making Red Velvet Cupcakes
The batter makes enough for about 14 cupcakes, but because I have a small oven, I can only fit one 12-cup muffin pan in my oven at a time. The remedy is to either lick the bowl (I’m still alive after a lifetime of raw dough and batter eating); discard the batter (that’s criminal), or bake an adorable mini loaf in a mini loaf pan that fits on the same oven rack as the muffin pan (score!).
I use my mini pans all the time for a 13th or 14th cupcake, extra muffin batter, or for mini cakes. Best money you’ll spend this year and you get 4 mini pans for $10 bucks.
I used light cream cheese, which makes frosting softer and runnier. If you want to pipe your frosting on, use full-fat. However, given that this is an easy, breezy, one-bowl, no-mixer cupcake batter, to break out a piping bag seems like a cruel trick.
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Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Red Velvet Cupcakes
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup buttermilk, or Powdered Buttermilk, use 2 1/2 tablespoons + 2/3 cup water
- ½ cup canola oil
- 2 tablespoons vanilla Greek yogurt, plain Greek yogurt or sour cream may be substituted
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 to 2 tablespoons red food coloring, or as needed
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup cream cheese, softened (I used Trader Joe’s soft spreadable light)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 to 2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, or as necessary
- splash cream or milk, only if necessary
- sanding sugar or sprinkles, optional for garnishing
Instructions
- Make the Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a Non-Stick 12-Cup Regular Muffin Pan with paper liners; set aside. You will likely have batter for a 13th or 14th cupcake, and I baked it in this cooking-sprayed mini loaf pan because my oven is small and that setup works; discard extra batter if that’s easier.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the first 6 ingredients, through vanilla, until smooth.
- Add the flour, cocoa, baking soda, optional salt, and whisk until just combined; don’t overmix.
- Carefully whisk in the food coloring, making sure to add only as much as necessary to color the batter a deep shade of red; adding more than necessary can leave an aftertaste.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, place about 2 heaping tablespoons of batter per cupcake into each of the 12 cavities so they’re solidly 3/4-full. I poured the excess batter into a mini loaf pan.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until domed, set, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter; don’t overbake. My cupcakes were on the large side of normal because I generously filled liners to 3/4-full, and they took exactly 20 minutes. If yours are filled more shallow, start checking at 18 minutes.
- Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before removing. I baked the mini loaf for 20 minutes. While cupcakes cool, make the frosting.
- Make the Cream Cheese Frosting
- Combine first 3 ingredients in a large mixing bowl, add about 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, and whisk to combine or beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Continue adding sugar until desired frosting consistency is reached. If you add too much sugar and need to thin frosting out, add a splash of cream. Because I used light cream cheese, the frosting stayed on the runnier side. If you want frosting thick enough to pipe, do not use light cream cheese.
- Add 2 to 3 tablespoons frosting to the top of each cupcake and smooth with a knife. Optionally transfer frosting to a piping bag and frost the cooled cupcakes. I like the Wilton 1M tip for cupcakes.
- Optionally, garnish each cupcake with a sprinkle of sanding sugar or pinch of sprinkles.
Notes
- You may have a small amount of frosting left over. It will keep airtight in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
- Cupcakes will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days. I personally am comfortable storing cream cheese-frosted items at room temp, but if you prefer to store in the fridge, that’s fine, but note the fridge will dry cupcakes out much more quickly.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Valentine’s Day Recipes:
Red Velvet Chocolate-Swirled Brownie Bars — These easy, no-mixer brownie bars are in between a bar and a brownie. Not supremely fudgy to give them true brownie status, but much fudgier and richer than your typical bar, and not cakey!
Easy Chocolate Pots de Creme – No-bake, no-cook, and made in a blender in 5 minutes!! The PERFECT dessert! Rich, decadent, a chocolate lover’s dream, perfect for special occasions, and guaranteed to impress!!
Red Velvet Poke Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — The cake is fast, easy, and it’s a poke cake so it’s automatically super soft and moist.
Soft Frosted Valentine’s Heart Cookies — These easy cookies are soft, chewy, dense, made in one bowl, and you don’t have to roll them out.
Red Velvet Gooey Butter Cookies — These chocolate chip red velvet cookies have a secret ingredient — cake mix! These cookies are super ooey gooey and ultra rich!
Valentine’s Day Vanilla Pudding Sugar Cookie Bars – A sugar cookie crust topped with creamy vanilla pudding, whipped topping, and sprinkles!! A luscious and EASY Valentine’s Day dessert that will put everyone in festive spirits!!
The Best and Easiest Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes — One bowl, no mixer, so easy! The warm, gooey, fudgy chocolate lava cake center is heavenly! Better than any restaurant versions! Best chocolate cake EVER!!
Valentine’s Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars – Sugar cookie bars are so much FASTER AND EASIER than making sugar cookies!! The sprinkles and tangy cream cheese frosting help to make the bars a PERFECT Valentine’s Day treat!!
Recipe originally published November 18, 2013 and republished January 29, 2020 with updated text.
I just make this red velvet cupcakes today, they are absolutely delicious. I highly recommend this recipe, my family was happy, Thank you so much.
Thanks for trying them and glad your family was happy, too!
I was researching for red velvet recipe and yours caught my eye, as did the recipe from https://www.the350degreeoven.com/2012/06/cake/the-ultimate-moist-red-velvet-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting/
Until i realised both are actually very similar, which perhaps in between lies the success for good moist red velvet.
Cant wait to try!! And thanks!
I just looked at that recipe and hers has 2 eggs, sour cream, double the sugar, not as much vanilla, no greek yogurt or buttermilk like mine…so the cupcakes are probably different in terms of final taste but that’s the beauty of baking. Lots of times different ingredients/ratios CAN get you to a very similar outcome. Hope you enjoy these!
Hey there! I am a huge fan of red velvets. . And have just made my first batch of these with your recipe. They are so moist and fluffy. . Only thing is the taste. Think it’s due to the 2 tablespoons of red food colouring that I put in.. gonna use juz 1 tbsp n see how it goes. .. *from Singapore*
Glad you loved the recipe!
Your pictures are stunning! Your photos are the best I have seen on any food blog! I’ve never been a fan of red velvet cupcakes because they have always been dry. I cannot wait to try these!
Thanks for the super high praise about my photos – I appreciate it! :)
u havent used any butter..though its required in every reciepe..is it normal??
im gonna try this soon :)
Hi Averie!
You make special note about not needing to use a mixer, but I am not sure if I need to AVOID using a mixer? Is it okay to use my KitchenAid or does that make it dry somehow?
Thanks!!!
Willow
It’s easy to overmix and thereby create tough cupcakes in mixers. Personally just do it by hand. It’ll take you longer to wash out your KA than it will to just whip this batter up!
I have these cooling now. I pulled them from the cupcake tin to cool and noticed the cipcake liner is very oily. Is this normal?
*cupcake
I think all cupcake liners get pretty oily and they’re about average as I recall.
Hello! how many grams is a 1/2 heaping cup of cream cheese? And how much buttermilk will i have to add if i do not have any greek yoghurt on hand? Please reply as i am baking them for a friend’s birthday soon!! :(
Use slightly less buttermilk than the amount of Greek yog indicated; although since I haven’t tried this, it’s very hard to say how this will work.
Use an online gram/cup conversion site (google it) to figure out what you need for the cream cheese in the measurements you’re familiar with.
Will the cupcakes still be moist if I bake it a day before hand? Will the cupcake s ‘shrink’ ? Thank you so much again!!!!
Hello! Will these work as mini cupcakes? Anything I should alter/adjust if so?
You’d need to adjust the baking time (reduced) but not sure by how much as it will depend on your pan size.
1.25 inches per mini cupcake. Its the Wilyon 24 cup mini cupcake pan.
Hey! I tried these as mini cupcakes (with the extra batter) and they worked really well, I just popped the big ones in and added the little ones with 8 minutes to go. I think the little ones actually needed 10 minutes in total, but just keep an eye on them and they will be fine! I ended up with 12 big cupcakes and 12 little ones. :)
Thanks for sharing what you did because I’m sure it will help someone else who sees this. Glad they came out great for you!
I made these for V-Day to bring into work. Baked them in the cutest heart muffin pan but didn’t follow your advice and overfilled them. The heart shape was lost when they crowned in the oven. You had to turn them over to know they were hearts. It was the thought that counts, right? I wanted a frosting that was a little more firm so I used one I found on this blog, https://www.browneyedbaker.com/2014/02/10/red-velvet-roll-cake-with-white-chocolate-cream-cheese-filling. The combination was a big hit. Everyone loved them! Your red velvet recipe could not have been easier, they were so delicious, I looked like a hero! You are now 3 for 3 on the recipes I’ve tried! Thanks for postimg
So glad you loved the cupcake recipe and yes, overfilling is a killer. I have been there, so much. I completely understand! But hey, they tasted great. Glad that I’m 3/3 :)
Sorry to say I’ve just tried these red velvet cupcakes and followed the recipe exactly. They have turned out way too heavy. Is the batter mixture not too liquid? – preventing them from rising?
I’m not sure where things went wrong for you. I’ve made them many times and so many people have had great success. Just had a tweet earlier from someone who made them with great luck.
So not sure what you did. Maybe overmix the batter? Sorry they didn’t work for you.
So I made these red velvet cupcakes sans the red. Some might say that defeats the purpose, but I think the flavor and texture are much more important than color. And, boy, were the flavor and texture of these cupcakes great!
I did something weird with the yogurt and buttermilk for this recipe. I only had plain non-Greek yogurt, so I squeezed out the whey through a paper towel until it seemed about Greek-yogurt consistency and used that for the yogurt. Then I used the squeezed-out whey + homemade buttermilk (milk + lemon juice) for the buttermilk because some people on the Internet said that whey could be used as a buttermilk substitute. Well, it was a little backwards, squeezing out the whey only to use it anyway, but it worked! The cupcakes were moist, fluffy, and delicious!
I also used a simpler frosting of just squeezed yogurt (it’s always squeezed yogurt by me!) and confectioner’s sugar, and I found that it complemented your cupcakes very nicely. I left some cupcakes unfrosted so that I could appreciate their flavor on their own, and they tasted amazing and moist even without frosting.
Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
Glad that you loved these and were able to makeshift your way into the buttermilk via Greek yogurt. Honestly, you could have probably just used the Greek yog, as is, no monkey business or extra work. If the batter would have been too thick, a splash of water would have taken care of it. All you’re looking for is something cultured in this situation, and something thick-ish, so while I tested them using buttermilk, thinning about a little greek yog with water will probably yield very similar results. One of those baking shortcuts I’ve been known to use in banana bread, quickbreads, muffins, etc :)
It was plain yogurt, not Greek. But yes, I agree that it would have been much simpler just to use the yogurt and nothing else! But I couldn’t be sure of the measurements and if it would have worked, and I didn’t want to experiment too much. Perhaps next time I might be braver! ;)
Hi, not easy to find all the ingredients when you are living in the African bush but we made it and delicious! i just added a zest of lemon in the icing and it’s giving a little “Fresh” taste
That is amazing that you live in the African bush and you just made these!!!! I AM SO IMPRESSED! Thanks for trying the recipe, reading my blog all the way from Africa, and coming back to tell me you tried them! Thanks! :)
Hi, not easy to find all the ingredients when you are living in the African bush but we made it and delicious! i just added a zest of lemon in the icing and it’s giving a little “Fresh” test.
I tried your red velvet cup rec. it was a BIG let down, cupcakes came out dense and there is way too much chocolate, it came out as a dense chocolate cake….good thing I had plenty of left over ingredients. I search for another cupcake rec. that required only one tablespoon of cocoa powder…they came out perfect…Just wanted to give my honest opinion. (I followed the rec as written)
I’m sorry you found them to be too chocolaty. That’s never a ‘problem’ for me :) You’re the only person in all the comments I’ve received who has not raved about them. I like my red velvet on the chocolaty side and I guess you don’t since the other recipe with less cocoa suited your needs better. To each her own.
this are amazing i bake a lot work and private and this is definatly a fav recipe now and so easy to adapt, made margarita cupcakes by taking out cocoa and food colouring and adding tequila and lime juice and zest very light and fluffy and moist :) thanks so much from austria
adding tequila and lime juice = I love the way you think!! :)
I think I need to make those! Thanks for the praise and from reading all the way from Austria. Nice to know that as a professional baker you still appreciate my recipe!