Purple Velvet Cupcakes

Break free of the traditional red with these royally purple velvet cupcakes. They pack the same great flavor as their red alter-egos and look just as pretty when displayed for guests.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons or 15 drops of purple food coloring
1 teaspoons white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. I recommend investing in an inexpensive oven thermometer to ensure precise baking, and if you can, use your oven's convection bake setting. Line 2 cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

Sift together the dry ingredients - cake flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda, then set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine all of your wet ingredients - oil, buttermilk, eggs and food coloring.

*A Note on Food Coloring - You can achieve a purple hue a number of ways. 10 drops of blue and 15 drops of pink achieve a deep purple. A medium purple can be achieved with 24 drops of red and 16 drops of blue. Experiment until your desired hue is achieved!

Gradually add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined (stirring too much or using a hand mixer can result in dense cupcakes).

When mixture is ready, fill lined cupcake tins up about 2/3 of the way.

Bake your cupcakes 18-22 minutes, rotating your pans halfway through. They're finished baking if the tops spring back when lightly touched with a clean finger. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Prep Time

15 minutes

Serves

Recipe yields 24 cupcakes. For 12, simply halve all of the ingredients and reduce baking time by about 5 minutes.