Eggless Red Velvet Cupcake With CreamCheese Frosting

Red Velvet Cupcakes are a big fat challenge. No matter what I did they always used to turn up in unappealing color of rust brown. Perhaps it was my hesitancy to add so much color to a food even though it was edible coloring and all. This time though I put a plug to my squeamishness and added more coloring to the cupcake batter.They ended up looking almost like how a RVC should look like - Classy, Special and Red! Base recipe is from here. I made a few changes and made  it egg-less.

Ingredients(Makes 6 Cupcakes):

• 3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (Do not use Dutch Cocoa)
• 1/3 Cup Sugar (Lightly powdered in a blender)
• 1/3 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 1/4 Cup Buttermilk
• 1/2 Tbsp Wilton's Liquid Red Food Coloring 
• 1 Tbsp Milk
• 1/3 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/8 Cup Applesauce
• 1/4 Tsp White Vinegar
• 1/4 Tsp Vanilla Extract

For the Cream-cheese Frosting (For ~8-10 Cupcakes):

• 4 Tbsp/1/2 Stick Unsalted  Butter, softened
• 1/2 Bar(4 oz) Cream-cheese (I used 1/3 Less Fat Philadelphia CC)
• 2 to 2-1/2 Cups Confectioner's Sugar
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Procedure:

• In a wide shallow bowl, add the buttermilk.

• Mix the red food coloring along with a tbsp of milk and add it to the bowl. Then add the remaining wet ingredients -- applesauce and vanilla extract to the bowl.

• Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda in another bowl. Add salt and incorporate. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix using a spatula only till combined.  Line a 6-Cup Muffin pan with wrappers.Divide the batter evenly amongst the 6 cups.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake in the top rack anywhere from 18 to 22 minutes. Mine took only 18 minutes to bake until a tooth pick inserted in the middle came out clean. Cool completely prior to frosting.

• Make the Frosting: Whip the softened butter and cream-cheese for 3-4 minutes.

• Once well combined, add sugar in batches and the Vanilla extract too. The frosting should neither be too thick or too soft. 

• Once it reaches the piping consistency, spoon the frosting into the piping bag that is attached to Wilton's 2D tip.

• Pipe over the cupcakes. Garnish with a few crumbs, entirely optional. Keep it in the refrigerator and remove it 5 minutes prior to serving.

Enjoy! 
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#18

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