Pink Velvet Cupcakes
These Pink Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese buttercream have all the richness of their red velvet cousins, without all the red food dye!
Servings: 24 cupcakes
Calories: 495kcal
Equipment
- 2 Cupcake pans (24 cups total)
- large cookie scoop (optional, but makes transferring batter to pans much easier)
- large piping bag + star tip (for decorating; linked is a set that contains both)
- small piping bag + star tip (for decorating; linked is a set that contains both)
- Cupcake corer (or plastic knife; optional)
Ingredients
Pink Velvet Cupcakes
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks; slightly softened)
- 6 egg whites (for a brighter pink color; you can also use 4 eggs )
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
- 1 large drop soft pink gel food coloring (or 8 drops liquid pink food color)
(White Chocolate ganache filling – optional but recommended!)
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon clear vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese (one package; softened)
- 1 cup unsalted butter (two sticks, softened)
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 Tablespoon clear vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1-2 drops soft pink gel food coloring (Save and add later!)
- 1 drop gray gel food color (Save and add later!) Note: I've tried to make gray frosting black food color - and for some reason it turns more purple than gray. :/ Not what I wanted! I saved that batch with activated charcoal, but I recommend saving yourself the grief and just using gray gel color!)
Instructions
Pink Velvet Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Line 2 cupcake pans (24 cups) with paper or foil liners, and set aside.
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar together in a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined. With a pastry cutter (or with a stand mixer/paddle attachment if you have one) cut in the butter until no large lumps of butter remain, and the mixture looks crumbly.
- Add in the egg whites (or eggs) one at a time, mixing after each addition. (The mix will be stiff at this point; this is normal!) Add buttermilk, vanilla extract, and gel food color, and mix until well combined.
- Divide the batter evenly into the 24 cups – I usually use a large (1/4 cup) cookie scoop for this, but a spoon will work as well. Bake until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when touched; 14-18 minutes. Cool completely before filling and/or decorating. (This is a great time to make your frosting (and / or filling)!)
(White Chocolate ganache filling – optional but recommended!)
- Place heavy cream and white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on 50% power in 30-second intervals until smooth, stirring in between. Cool until a pipeable consistency is obtained.
- Once the cupcakes have cooled, if you want to fill them it's time to core them. This can be done with a cupcake corer, the back end of a piping tip, or a plastic knife. Transfer ganache to a piping bag and pipe into cored cupcakes (or use a spoon; it's just messier).
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla and salt and beat until well combined. Divide in half; color half the bath pink and the remaining half gray.
Decorating
- Pipe in frosting onto cupcakes in large swirls, rosettes, or small stars onto your cupcakes (or however you feel like icing them). I bought my favorite set of piping bags & tips on Amazon! Decorate the tops with pink and gray sprinkles if desired.
- Done and done! Enjoy!
Video
Notes
(Please note nutrition information is an estimate and may not be exactly accurate. Counts will be lower in all fields if the entire batch of frosting is not used.)
Nutrition
Serving: 1cupcake | Calories: 495kcal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 24g