I divided this into two lists since some of the cakes were baked as cupcakes and others were baked as full cakes. My worry was that certain cake recipes might not translate as well into cupcakes since cupcakes are smaller and more prone to drying out, but now I’m not so sure it matters. I thought all the cakes and cupcakes with 2 1/2 cups flour and 1 1/2 cups oil were too oily. Here’s the rundown of all the cupcakes and cakes.
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Red Velvet Cupcakes from Throwdown – Favorite so far. They are not too chocolaty, have enough moistness, and lots of good red velvet flavor. Emphasis on NOT TOO CHOCOLATY. If you like a more chocolate flavor red velvet, these aren’t for you.
(1 ¾ cups/7.8 oz ap flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 ½ eggs, ¾ cup oil, little over half teaspoon cocoa powder)
McCormick’s Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe — Too much like chocolate cake, but not as good as chocolate cake. Not red enough. Might as well make chocolate cake because there’s not enough red velvet flavor.
(2 ½ cups/11.2 oz ap flour, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup butter, ½ cup cocoa powder)
Hey There Cupcake! Red Velvet Cake recipe on Epicurious — Great color! Lovely velvety texture. Not enough flavor in my opinion and tasted kind of floury. They need more fat or eggs or salt or something.
(2 ½ cups/11.2 oz ap flour, 1 ½ cups sugar, ½ cup butter, 2 tablespoons cocoa)
Martha Stewart’s Red Velvet Cupcakes — A little too soft and oily from the cake flour and fat. Didn’t like the structure or texture and could actually taste the oil, but definitely moist and people who go crazy over things that are moist like these. In fact, you’re likely to get compliments. This recipe is similar to the Cake Man Raven’s, but with more cocoa powder.
(2 ½ cups cake flour 10 oz, 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 ½ cups oil, 2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder)
Cake Man Raven — Wildly popular recipe with people who don’t mind oiliness (which is a lot of people). Likely to garner compliments and accolades. Great red color due to judicious use of natural cocoa powder. Not my personal favorite because I can taste the oil, but tempting to make for other people knowing that no one will say “it’s a little dry”.
(2 ½ cups/10 oz cake flour, 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 ½ cups oil, 1 teaspoon natural cocoa powder)
Red Velvet Cupcakes from Baked — Louise tested these. She liked them, but I haven’t bothered to try them since they seem to close to chocolate cake. Again, no offense to those who like red velvet cake to be very chocolaty, it’s just not what I’m shooting for which is vibrant red and kind of sour tasting. I do like that this one doesn’t rely on boat loads of oil, though. It uses cake flour and an extra egg for softness. Also has a little more sugar.
(2 ½ cups/10 oz cake flour, 1 2/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup fat (shortening and butter combo), 3 eggs, 4 tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder
New One to the List: Holiday Favorite Red Velvet (Combination of a few others) — These are my latest and may be the favorite, though the Throwdown Cupcakes are still very good.
(2 cups cake flour, 1 1/2 cups AP flour, 1 3/4 cups sugar, 1 cup butter, 3 1/2 tablespoons cocoa, 3 eggs. Also — 1 cup sour cream and 1 cup buttermilk!!)
Red Velvet Cakes
Aunt Mildred’s Recipe – I really liked this one. No complaints. Not sure how it would work as cupcakes since it only has 1/2 cup butter and gets its softness from cake flour. Probably okay.
(2 ¼ cups cake flour (9 oz), 1 ½ cups sugar, ½ cup butter, 2 T. natural cocoa)
Self-Rising Flour Cake – Made this as a half-cake. Todd loved it. Moist but not greasy. Looking back, I notice that the half version has 2 tablespoons of food coloring which means the full version has 1/4 cup! Yikes. I think I could cut that in half and be okay. I also remember this cake as having a slight (still good, just slightly off) taste that might have been from the food coloring.
(2 ½ cups self-rising ( 11.2 oz), 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 cup oil, 2 tablespoons cocoa)
B. Smith’s Recipe – Similar to Aunt Mildred’s — This is another good one. It’s got cake flour plus a little more fat than Aunt Mildred’s and I think it would make good cupcakes. It’s got a lot of cocoa powder so it’s not quite as red, but it’s still pretty red.
(2 ¼ cups/7.4 oz SIFTED cake flour, 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 cup butter, ¼ cup natural cocoa)
All in One Bake-Shop – Similar to the moist rich, Cake Man Raven style cake. A little too much oil for my taste, but very easy to make. It’s a darker color, but definitely recognizable as Red Velvet.
(2 ½ cups/11.2 oz ap flour, 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 ½ cups oil, 2 tablespoon cocoa powder)
Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet with Cooked Icing – Very good, but must be made with precision. Must weigh and measure cake flour properly (and sift!). Also need to use shortening instead of butter for proper texture and people don’t always want to use shortening.
(2 ¼ cups sifted/7.4 oz cake flour, 1 ½ cups sugar, ½ cup shortening, 2 tablespoons cocoa)
White Lily Flour Red Velvet Cake – I need to make this one again. It has slightly more flour than the Cake Man Raven style cake. Plus, when I made it I only used 1 1/3 cups of oil even though the true recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups. That might be why I didn’t find it too oily at the time.
(2 ½ cups/11.2 oz White Lily, 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups oil, 2 tablespoons cocoa)
