This is not your regular red velvet cupcakes, there’s a surprise heart inside! “gasp”
To make them even better, you can top each cupcake with a rich and tangy cream cheese frosting or a delicious and smooth vanilla buttercream frosting. These cupcakes are the perfect treat for valentine’s day or anytime you need a little love in your life… or in your belly!
Heart Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Yields: 6 Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the Vanilla cake (hearts):
- 2⁄3 cup – 80 grams all purpose flour
- 1⁄8 tsp of salt
- 2⁄3 tsp (1⁄2 tsp + 1⁄8 tsp) – 3 grams baking powder
- 1⁄4 cup – 52 grams granulated sugar
- 1⁄4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1⁄4 cup buttermilk at room temperature (You can make buttercream at home! For 1 cup of buttermilk, you need 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Add the lemon juice to milk, stir and and set aside for 10 minutes! 🥛 )
For the Red Velvet Cake:
- 2⁄3 cup – 80 grams all purpose flour
- 2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1⁄8 tsp of salt
- 6 tbsp Sugar
- 1⁄8 cup or 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
- 1⁄8 cup or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- about half a tablespoon of red gel food coloring
- 1⁄4 cup buttermilk at room temperature (You can make buttermilk at home! For 1 cup of buttermilk, you need 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Add the lemon juice to milk, stir and and set aside for 10 minutes! 🥛 )
- 1⁄4 tsp baking soda
- 1⁄4 tsp distilled white vinegar
For the Frosting you can go with either one of these:
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 oz – 226 grams cream cheese at room temperature
- 1⁄2 cup – 113 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
- You can find my favorite vanilla buttercream frosting here.
Instructions:
For the Vanilla cake (hearts):
-
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and line and grease a 7 inch cake pan.
- Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes (scrape the bowl with a spatula halfway through) until it’s fluffy and light in color.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until it is incorporated. (about 1 minute)
- Mix in the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with buttermilk beating well after each addition.
This means, adding one third of the dry ingredients, mixing a little bit until incorporated, then adding half of the buttermilk and mixing. Then, you add another one third of the dry ingredients, mix, add the rest of the buttermilk, mix, and finally add the last part of the dry ingredients.
So, we start and finish with the dry ingredients.
Keep in mind that you don’t need to mix the batter too much, a few seconds after each addition is enough to incorporate them together. If you over mix the batter, your cake won’t have a soft and crumbly texture.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert it onto a plate or wire rack and let it cool completely.
- After the cake is completely cool, use a small heart shaped cookie cutter and gently press it onto the vanilla cake to make the hearts. Then we set them aside and make the red velvet batter.
For the Red Velvet Cake:
-
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the cupcake pan with cupcake liners. (Tip: If there is a pretty pattern on the liners and you want to be able to see them after baking, use two liners for each cupcake.)
- Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, add melted butter, oil and granulated sugar and beat on medium until well combined.
- Add the egg, vanilla extract and red food coloring, mix on medium until combined. Scrape down the bowl. If the color of the batter is pink and not red, add more food coloring. (The pigmentation sometimes depends on the brand, but make sure whatever brand you buy, it is gel, not liquid food coloring.)
- Mix in the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with buttermilk beating well after each addition.
This means, adding one third of the dry ingredients, mixing a little bit until incorporated, then adding half of the buttermilk and mixing. Then, you add another one third of the dry ingredients, mix, add the rest of the buttermilk, mix, and finally add the last part of the dry ingredients.
So, we start and finish with the dry ingredients.
Keep in mind that you don’t need to mix the batter too much, a few seconds after each addition is enough to incorporate them together. If you over mix the batter, your cake won’t have a soft and crumbly texture.
- In a small bowl, mix the baking soda and vinegar, you will see bubbles! Immediately add it to the batter and mix on low for a few seconds to combine.
- Now, in each cupcake tin, add about 1.5-2 tablespoons of the batter. Make sure not to use all the batter because we need to add more to the cupcakes! Bake at the preheated oven for 5 minutes.
8. Take the pan out. You will see that the batter is slightly set, especially on the edges. You may see that there is a thin layer set on the surface of cupcakes, use a toothpick to break that layer, this way the heart will go in the cupcake easier. Place the hearts in the middle of each cupcake, all in the same direction (so it’s easier to remember, you can also take a photo). Add about half a tablespoon of batter on top of it to cover the heart.
9. Bake again for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
10. When you take the cupcakes out of the oven, you will most likely see where the hearts are. Let the cupcakes cool down completely, then take a knife and very gently mark the outside of the cupcakes, so that you know which way to cut to see the heart. Because after you cover them with frosting, it’ll be a guessing game without the marks!
Mark the cupcakes like this:
Now we prepare the Cream Cheese Frosting:
For the frosting it is very important that the butter and cream cheese are at room temperature.
- First, beat the butter on medium for 2-3 minutes until it’s light in color.
- Add the cream cheese and beat for 1 more minute until combined.
- Add the sifted powdered sugar, vanilla extract and salt and mix on low until combined.
- Now continue mixing on medium for one more minute.
- If you like to have a more stiff frosting, add more powdered sugar a little at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
This cream cheese frosting is not overly sweet, so make sure you taste it at the end and add more sugar if desired.
Assembly:
Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with your favorite tip, I used Wilton 1M.
Frost cooled cupcakes, you can also use some sprinkles on top to make it fancier!
Again, make sure you have marked the cupcakes on the edges so that you know where to cut them to see the heart!
