Sprinkles Red Velvet Cupcakes, Copycat

By LKovac

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 2 1/4 1/4 cups flour (I use all-purpose)
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1 1 cup butter, softened (I’ve used salted and unsalted without noticing a difference. Salted is what is in my fridge.)
• 2 1/4 2 1/4 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 4 4 eggs
• 1 1 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 1/2 2 cup buttermilk (or milk with 2 teaspoons lemon juice)
• 1 1 1 ounce red food coloring** (I know, that is a lot of red food coloring! It is what gives it the deep red.)
• 4 4 4 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 1 ounce) package 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, cold
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 cup butter, cold
• 2 2 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 2 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
• 16 16 4 ounces confectioners’ sugar (approximately 4 cups)

Details

Adapted from carrottopmom.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Spoon batter into 24 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Gently remove from oven (these are super-moist, and will collapse if you aren’t careful). Cool in pans on wire rack at least 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting. (Do not frost until totally cooled, or the frosting will slide off!)
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting: With a high powered mixer (stand up mixer if you have one) beat *COLD* cream cheese, butter, sour cream and Pure Vanilla Extract in large bowl until light and fluffy. Scrape bowl, and beat again. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Once smooth, turn beaters to high (I use my Kitchenaid) and whip on high for 5 minutes, until very fluffy. I am frequently asked how I get the piled high frosting. I do this with a piping bag, or a Ziploc bag with a 1 inch hole cut out of the corner will work perfectly. I always pipe the frosting on, instead of spreading it with a knife. That is how I get the tall pile of frosting. IF you do want the tall pile, I recommend doing 1 1/2 the recipe for frosting, to make sure you have enough.
Frost the cupcakes generously, and serve at room temperature! If you make these, I hope you will drop me a comment and let me know how they turned out!
In response to the comments who have had trouble with the frosting…These are the exact proportions I use, and have used repeatedly. I do not add more sugar, or it will be very sweet, but it is important that the cream cheese and sour cream are cold–straight out of the fridge. If the frosting is too runny, I recommend putting the frosting in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, beating it again, then piping it on. Also, your cupcakes MUST be totally cooled. The frosting may seem a little too moist at first, but if you can get it to form a pile, and leave the cupcake uncovered for 1 hour or so, it will form a slightly dry crust (not a bad crust, I promise), so it won’t seem so gooey.