Wedding Cupcakes

Recipe Review: Red Velvet takes a walk down the aisle 

This weekend I had my very first paid cupcake gig! And an ambitious one at that. My good friends little sister was getting married on a budget and so I was comissioned to bake 13 dozen (aka 156) red velvet cupcakes for the occasion. I have to admit I was incredibly nervous about this. I had never baked anything close to that volume before. It took a few test batches to get the recipe and color just right. The morning of I set out to buy massive quantities of butter, eggs, sugar, cream cheese, and red food coloring. Since there was butter in both the frosting and the cupcakes I needed 32 sticks. I wheeled my crazy cart full of baking supplies to the check out, headed to my friends house (bigger oven), unpacked my KitchenAid and it was time to get baking.

Just in case you are curious, it takes approximately 10 hours to bake, frost, decorate, box, and clean up after the incredible mess making this many cupcakes creates. About half way through I was starting to loose a little steam and get stressed out. Luckily my friends dad came home about half way through the process and urged me to start drinking wine.

While these cupcakes taste amazing I would caution that this recipe is incredibly fincky. To date I have made it 10 times. (Twice for practice, 8 times day of) The first batch I made didn't rise at all. This happened again with one random batch in the middle of baking. A few batches rose too much and turned out having oversized tops. I had read a recipe tip that if you are baking two pans of cupcakes at once you should switch their positions half way though. I think thats a really bad idea. It lets a ton of heat out of the oven and might have contributed to the batch that didn't rise enough. If anyone has any tips on how to get the cupcakes to be consistant I would love to know. Overall I think the project was a success, but for now i'm going to stick to to smaller orders from now on. I can handle a few batches on my own, but I need back up help for this volume.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
adapted from Sprinkle Bakes
yield: 24 cupcakes

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 cups of sugar
1 cup butter softened
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsps liquid red food color
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp plus one pinch baking soda
1 tbsp cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pan with cupcake liners.

Sift flour and salt together. Set aside. In large bowl combine butter and sugar and beat on medium until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. In a small bowl mix together the red food coloring, cocoa powder and vanilla until a paste forms. Add the food coloring mixture to the butter mixture and blend until color is evening distributed. Add the flour mixture to the bowl 1/3 at a time, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small bowl stir together the baking soda and vinegar. This will start to foam up and should be added to the batter immediately. Blend on medium high speed until the batter is consistent. Do not over blend. Spoon 1/4 cup of batter into each cup. Bake for 25 minutes until a tooth pick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8oz package of cream cheese
1 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar

Cream together butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Gradually add in 4 cups of powdered sugar. Increase speed to medium high and beat until frosting has a soft fluffy consistency. (If frosting is too heavy add milk 1 tablespoon at a time while beating until desired consistency is reached.)

 
printable recipe

Congratulations to the lovely bride and groom!! I hope you and your guests enjoyed the cupcakes. Thank you for letting me be a part of your wedding- it was a pleasure baking for such lovely people.