After posting pictures of the blue velvet cupcakes we celebrated B3’s birthday with this week we had a few requests for the recipe. Our General Operations Manager, Nadja, is the brains behind this invention so I emailed her to see if she’d be willing to share her recipe. Being the perfectionist that she is, the recipe came with a disclaimer which I have included below. That said, we all thought they were delicious. Enjoy!

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Disclaimer from Nadja: I was not as thrilled with this recipe as I feel I should have been. They were tasty but I think there are too many leavening agents in it and the sought after rise was replaced with a less velvety, more grainy interior. I also think the baking time should be reduced to 14-16 minutes, shorter than that even for a dark pan. The super basic frosting is über amazing. But, really, how can you go wrong with fat, fat and sugar?

The recipe is “officially” from someone else but I have already changed some of the flourishes and femme writing that were originally there (so not me!!). I do not, however, remember where I got it from in the first place. I copied it awhile ago and this is the first time I have used it.

Blue Velvet cupcakes

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. Blue food coloring
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners.

2. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a smaller bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

4. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Be careful as it will fizz so don’t do it in a shallow bowl. Add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Fill cupcake cups with cake batter until they are a little under 3/4 full. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, rotating pans halfway through.

5. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 10 minutes then remove and place on wire rack and allow to cool completely before frosting. Best with cream cheese frosting.

Über-Amazing Frosting

1 stick butter – softened
8 oz cream cheese – cold
1 1/2 – 2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract