Red Velvets from Scratch

Even though I must admit that I love hummingbirds cupcakes the best, their recipe just isn't as good at home than in the store. I think there must be some secret ingredient or magic touch. Working at hummingbirds is my dream - and maybe someday I can find out the secret! But for now, I use the Magnolia recipe for my red velvet cupcakes: 

Photography by the
Cupcake Around the Corner

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups flour (not self-rising)

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 ¼ cups sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

6 tablespoons red food coloring****

2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 ½ cups buttermilk

1 ½ teaspoons cider vinegar

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

How they make it: (all in Magnolias words by the way!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and lightly flour three muffin tins. Place cupcake papers in the tins.

To make the cake: In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.

In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts, alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overheat.

In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake each tray for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

*** The last time I used these I used one small container of red food coloring powder.  The powder really made the cupcakes turn out red as opposed to a sort of burnt red color.

You can find tons more great cupcake recipes on Magnolias site: 
http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/delegate.do?fnSearchString=cupcakes&fnSearchType=site