Southern Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two 12-count cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set to the side.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir together the eggs and oil.

Whisk together the buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla extract in another separate mixing bowl.

Gradually add the dry ingredients and buttermilk mixture into the egg mixture while slowly mixing. Be careful not to splash everywhere! You are trying to achieve a dark red batter color, so add more cocoa powder if the red isn’t deep enough. Mix until all the separate mixtures are fully combined and your coloring is accurate.

Pour the batter into your cupcake liners, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake for 22 minutes, or until done. Let them cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

Combine the confectioners’ (powdered) sugar, cream cheese, butter, salt and vanilla extract in the bowl of your stand mixer and blend for 2 minutes.

Frost the cupcakes when cool, and, if desired, add red colored sugar on the top. Enjoy!