Make These Red Velvet Valentine’s Day Cupcakes For Your Sweet Love!
Home » COOK » Recipes » Baking » Cupcakes »
Made from scratch Red Velvet Valentine’s Day Cupcakes with creamy cream cheese frosting are pure perfection. Valentines is just around the corner so it’s never too early to start thinking about what delicious sweet treats you want to make for the favorite people in your life.
I’ve got lots of fun and easy Cupcake Recipes for Parties for you to try out – right-click and open these other recipes in a new tab so that you can read them after this one!
Affiliate Disclosure
We have included affiliate links to products and services related to the topic of this post.
This post contains affiliate links, and we will be compensated if you purchase after clicking on those links.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Read Our Full Disclosure and Privacy Policy
Valentine’s Day Cupcakes
The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions and to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required as well as understand the steps and timings involved. Photos for illustrative purposes only
Red is the first color that springs to mind when I think of love and Valentine’s Day, so what better way to celebrate than with a batch of Red Velvet Valentine’s Day Cupcakes?
These red velvet isn’t a flavor that is as common in the UK as it is in the US, so let me quickly tell you about these deep red cupcakes
Red velvet cake is traditionally a red, red-brown, crimson or scarlet colored chocolate layer cake, layered with white cream cheese or ermine icing. Traditional recipes do not use food coloring, with the red color due to non-Dutched, anthocyanin-rich cocoa.
Wikipedia
If you enjoy learning about food history, do check out the Wiki page as it’s fascinating!
The cupcakes are topped with a cream cheese frosting with a sprinkling of heart-shaped sprinkles and some red velvet cake crumbs – delicious!
To save time, you could make these cupcakes using a box of red velvet cake mix and make the frosting from scratch – I won’t tell – I love using cake mixes to save time!
Ingredients & Equipment Used In This Recipe
You may have some baking ingredients in your kitchen already – the full list with measurements is found in the recipe card.
For your convenience, any specialized or notable ingredients and equipment needed to make these cupcakes have been listed below and linked to Amazon or other stores if available online.
Cupcakes & Frosting Ingredients
- Red Velvet Extract – adds the rich taste and color of classic red velvet cake in one easy step!
- Pure Vanilla Extract – always buy the best you can afford, it really does make a difference!
Decorating Ingredients
- Valentine’s Day Sprinkles – you can use any sprinkles that you like! Make a mix of your own with different single sprinkle types, or buy a ready-made Valentine’s mix. Or keep it simple and use heart-shaped sprinkles.
Cupcake Decorating Equipment
- Large Piping Bag – you can use disposable or reuseable, your choice.
- Large Star Tip – for example, Wilton 1M
Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog use both cup measurements and/or weighted measurements. American cups and kitchen food scales are handy pieces of equipment to have in your kitchen as it means you’ll be able to make all of the different recipes on my blog! I try to give American, imperial, and metric measurements in my recipes. You can mix cup measurements with weighted measurements, but never imperial (pounds, ounces, pints, etc.,) with metric (kilograms, grams, litres, etc.,).
Valentine’s Day Cupcakes Recipe Tips
Cupcake Making Tips
- You can use Valentine-themed cupcake liners to bake your cupcakes in if you like or stick to a complementary color.
- Use an ice cream scoop to equally divide the cupcake mixture between the cupcake liners. Fill them about three-quarters full.
- The cupcakes should be ready in about 20 minutes – test their doneness by inserting a toothpick into the cakes. It should come out clean when the cupcakes are cooked through. Bake for an extra 2 minutes and check again.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Cupcake Frosting Tips
- When making the frosting you want the end result to be creamy, smooth, and for it to hold a stiff peak. You may have to adjust the amount of powdered sugar and cream slightly to achieve the consistency you need.
- You will need a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
- If you feel like you are going to be making a lot of cakes and cupcakes in your future, I think it is worth investing in a set of piping tips so that you know you always have the right ones on hand for a recipe.
- Do not overfill the piping bag with frosting, and make sure you squeeze the frosting down the bag to expel any air bubbles.
- If you are not confident with your piping skills you can practice on some parchment paper first and scoop the frosting back into the bag to use on the cupcakes.
More Valentine’s Day Cupcake Recipes
Looking for more Valentine’s cupcakes to make? Check these recipes out next:
How Do I Make Red Velvet Valentine’s Day Cupcakes?
Just check out the recipe card below with full ingredients, and instructions. You can print the card out too (don’t worry, the pics don’t print to save your ink!).
Red Velvet Valentine's Day Cupcakes
Made from scratch Red Velvet Valentine's Day Cupcakes with creamy cream cheese frosting perfect for the sweet love in your life!
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 2½ cups all-purpose (plain) flour
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1½ tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter, softened, plus 4 tbsp.
- ¼ cup softened shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 Tbsp Red Velvet extract
- 1 cup milk
- 1 Tbsp red gel food coloring
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted sweet cream butter, softened
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)
- 6 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Heart Sprinkles for decoration
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line cupcake pans with 21 cupcake liners.
- Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.
- Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Mix in the egg, vanilla extract, red velvet extract, and red gel food coloring until combined.
- Alternating between the dry ingredients and milk, gradually mix both ingredients into the butter mixture until combined.
- Use an ice cream scoop to evenly distribute the cake batter between the liners.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- When cooled, take one of the cupcakes and crumble it into fine crumbs into a bowl.
- To make the frosting, use an electric mixer to combine the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream, and vanilla on medium speed until combined and smooth, stiff peaks form.
- Scoop the frosting into a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip,
- Pipe swirls of frosting on top of each cupcake and sprinkle each one with cupcake crumbs and heart sprinkles.
- Enjoy and Happy Valentine's Day!
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 22 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 352Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 48mgSodium: 249mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 0gSugar: 37gProtein: 3g
This site uses an outside source (Nutritionix) to provide estimated nutrition. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.
Make It A Meal!
You’ve made the dessert, but what about the rest of the courses?
Here are additional recipes to make a full meal!
- Appetizer: Warm Spinach Artichoke Dip
- Main Dish: Garlic Parmesan Steak with Asparagus
- Side Dish: Roasted Apple Cauliflower Mash with Crispy Brussels Sprouts
- Beverage: Raspberry Lime Vodka Cocktail
There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy – please feel free to check them out too!