Excerpted from Christy Jordan’s Sweetness.

This is one of only a few recipes in this book that have appeared in my previous cookbooks. I wanted to make this book an all-in-one source for my family’s favorite sweet recipes, and so our classic red velvet cupcakes, courtesy of family friend Tookie, had to make the cut. This cake is rich and moist, the best red velvet I’ve ever had.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Makes 18 cupcakes

For the Cupcakes

• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1½ cups vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ounce red food coloring

For the Frosting

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, at room temperature
• 1 box (16 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with 9 paper muffin cups each and set aside.
2. Make the cupcakes: Stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium-size bowl with a large spoon.
3. In a separate large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vinegar with an electric mixer at medium speed until combined, about 1 minute. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and beat on medium speed, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed, until well blended.
4. Add the vanilla and food coloring to the batter and mix again on low speed until well blended and uniform in color.
5. Fill each muffin cup about three-quarters full with batter. Bake until the center of a cupcake springs back when pressed lightly, 20 to 25 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
6. Meanwhile, make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until well blended, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and beat with the mixer at medium speed, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed, until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Frost the cooled cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes will keep, in an airtight container at room temperature, for 2 to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. I love them refrigerated!

About the Book:

Celebrate the sweet spirit and taste of Southern hospitality with Christy Jordan, the voice of Southern cooking for a new generation. Sweetness is a memory made in our grandmother’s kitchen. Sweetness is nights on the porch, listening to the old stories. Sweetness is welcoming guests with an open heart. And food: sustaining those same guests with Peach Buttermilk Pie. Greeting the kids and their friends after school with Chocolate Chip Dream Bars. Sitting in the shade with neighbors and cooling down with Blushing Apple Juleps. (Pour some for the little ones, too—there’s no alcohol.) Or ending dinner on the high note of a Chocolate Chess Pie, because you always need a little something sweet to finish it off, whether a meal or a day.

In Sweetness, Christy Jordan shares 197 recipes for sweet things to eat and drink—recipes that are deeply delicious, rich with tradition, often reaching through generations, and designed with today’s hectic schedules in mind. Because life is just better when you add a little sweetness.

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