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Quick and easy recipes you can make for your family and friends. Published by Julie Tran Deily

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Julie Deily · 36 Comments

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Red Velvet Cupcakes from The Little Kitchen

Happy Valentine's Day! These red velvet cupcakes are perfect for Valentine's Day or any day for that matter. Who doesn't love red velvet right? When I was making my red velvet oreo truffles, I decided I would make cupcakes too. I'm a huge fan of from scratch baking but I'm also a huge fan of getting it done fast and will use cake mixes and extend them. These were way easy to make.

And then I decided to put a truffle on top! Get it? Like put an egg on it, put a truffle on it.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I bought these little party/nut cups a few weeks ago and this is my first time baking with them. I'm in love. They are lined so they are greaseproof. And you don't need a cupcake pan for them. I bought a bunch more when I went to Old Time Pottery the other day. I use both my small and medium cookie scoops to measure enough batter for these nut cups.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

These cupcakes are super moist and I know there are some out there who will cry bloody murder because I used a cake mix. Feel free to use your favorite homemade red velvet cupcake recipe like this one. I have made it before and I love it. But you must make this cream cheese frosting, it's the best one I have ever had.

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Red Velvet Cupcakes
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Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 12 -14 cupcakes

Ingredients

Red Velvet Cupcakes

  • 1/2 package of 19.25 red velvet cake mix
  • 3.4 oz package of vanilla or chocolate instant pudding
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 Tablespoon of espresso powder dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 3 cups 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup plus 1/2 Tbsp, 8.25 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups 8.25 oz sifted powdered sugar

Instructions

Red Velvet Cupcakes

  • Turn oven on and set to 350 degrees F. Drop cake mix into medium-sized mixing bowl. Add package of instant pudding and the wet ingredients. Mix with rubber spatula until all ingredients are incorporated. Don't overmix.
  • If you're using regular cupcake liners, line your cupcake tin with the liners. If you're using the nut cups, cover a cookie sheet in foil and line up the nut cups. For regular cupcakes, use a large cookie scoop (3 Tablespoons) to scoop batter into the cupcake liners. If using nut cups, I used both my small and medium scoops (1 1/2 Tablespoons & 2 teaspoons).
  • Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, time may vary depending on your oven and size baking cups you use. Remove from oven and allow to cool in cupcake tins (if using) for a couple of minutes. Remove and allow to cool on a cooling rack for 10 to 15 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • In your stand mixer bowl, add butter and sugar. Attach the paddle attachment and cream together until smooth and shiny.
  • Add the cream cheese and mix thoroughly until completely smooth, about 2-3 minutes. If not using immediately, refrigerate until needed. Using an offset spatula, thoroughly mix the frosting after removing the refrigerator before frosting cupcakes. Cupcakes frosted with this icing should be refrigerated if not being served immediately. Makes 3 cups of frosting.

Notes

Slightly modified from these cupcakes, originally from My Baking Addiction. Cream Cheese Frosting from Miette, 2011 Chronicle Books
Red Velvet Cupcakes
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Julie of The Little Kitchen

Hi, I'm Julie!

Welcome to The Little Kitchen! I'm Julie and I love to cook, bake, eat and share (not necessarily in that order). I share easy recipes, stories about my family (which includes my pets) and my travels. And I actually do have a little kitchen.

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    1. Laurie says

      This recipe looked so good, but I was a little wary because of the measurements… the box of cake mix I bought was 16.5oz and the pudding mix was 5.9oz… but I have a digital food scale and measured them out by using your numbers. I ended up with using 9.6oz of cake mix and 3.4oz of pudding mix. The batter was super thick, but they turned out amazing!!! So moist!! I just wanted to put this out there for anyone else who is concerned about the measurements – these were the best Red Velvet cupcakes I have ever had!!! The cream cheese frosting is the bomb too… totally makes them over the top! Thank you for sharing!!!

      Reply

    5. Faye says

      This is the cutest Valentine’s Day cupcake recipe I’ve seen so far and the chocolate topping is a wonderful idea and it reminds me of this chocolate ball I had some days ago- it was filled with yummy chocolate on the inside and I wanted more of it.

      Reply

    17. Kiersten @ Oh My Veggies says

      These would be great, if only you didn’t use a cake mix. Just kidding! 🙂 I’ve had people say that when I use pie or pizza crusts too. Someone even ranted about it on Pinterest once–ha. The truffle on top is awesome!

      Reply

    27. Kelsey K. says

      Pretty sure there have been multiple instances where cute cupcake cups have caught my eye at the store and inspired a new batch of cupcakes. Why do the cups make such a difference?! I don’t know, but I’m a complete sucker for them. And okay, truffles on top of red velvet cupcakes?! Genius. What could be wrong with that?!

      Reply

    32. natalie @ wee eats says

      BLOODY MURDER!?!? No way. I never look a gift-horse in the mouth… Especially when they come bearing delicious red velvet cupcakes PLUS chocolate truffles! These are almost too gorgeous to eat! ((ALMOST)) 🙂

      Happy Valentines Day!

      Reply

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