High Altitude Red Velvet Cupcakes
A high altitude recipe for classic red velvet cupcakes, with sweet and tangy cream cheese buttercream.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 3 cups cake flour, spooned and leveled, then sifted
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetened, Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 ⅔ cups whole buttermilk
- 1 tbsp white distilled vinegar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- red gel food coloring
Buttercream
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 8 oz (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 2 tbsp whole milk, if needed
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and line your muffin pans with paper cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda to remove any lumps. Whisk until well combined.
- Separately, whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Add 3-4 drops of red gel food coloring. The red color will darken once you mix it with the dry ingredients.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk for about 15-20 seconds until mostly smooth. The batter will be thin.
- Measure a scant 1/4 cup of batter into each of the cupcake liners, being careful not to overfill them - they should be about 2/3 full.
- Bake the cupcakes on the center oven rack for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pans for several minutes, then use a spoon to gently lift them out. Set the cupcakes on a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing to combine. Add the vanilla. Increase the speed to medium and whip the buttercream for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl occasionally. Only add the milk if needed for desired spreading consistency, but you may not need it.
- Spread or pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes.
Notes
- This recipe makes a generous amount of batter, which is enough for about 30 cupcakes, or 24 cupcakes + one 6-inch cake layer.
- Since there is cream cheese in the buttercream, the frosted cupcakes should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Let come to room temperature before serving.
- I used tip #2D for piping the buttercream.
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