Halloween Red Velvet Cupcakes

Last updated on June 6th, 2018 at 02:00 pm

These bloody Red Velvet Cupcakes are perfect for Halloween. Traditional red velvet cupcakes, topped with a cream cheese frosting and decorated with a red icing for a bloody effect.

I can’t believe Halloween is just around the corner. This year just seems to be flying by. I love Halloween mostly because I love making desserts, though I don’t always succeed. I always have high expectations from myself when it comes to making desserts and sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail. However, this year I decided to keep it simple.

I love Halloween, not because I still dress up, because I don’t, those years passed by a long time ago. It’s the candy, when it comes to candy I don’t think hubs and I ever grew up. And trust me, I really am thankful that I’m married to a man who really loves chocolate as much as I do.

One of my favorite cakes, if not my favorite, is a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Hubs and I will sometimes buy a piece of red velvet cake and enjoy it as dessert, it’s our thing when we decide to treat ourselves.

I also love to make red velvet cake, not all the time, but when I get into my baking moods. So for Halloween, it was only natural to make some red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and decorate them. Truth be told, I really think it’s the cream cheese frosting as to why I love red velvet cake so much.

But let’s be serious for a moment, red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting really is a marriage made in heaven. Which is why these cupcakes are perfect. They’re perfect even if you don’t decorate them because they’re still super cute. However, if you do choose to make them a bit bloody and gory looking, it’s so worth your time and trust me it doesn’t take that much extra time to decorate them.

Pretty much every year, before Halloween, I make a trip to Michael’s to see what decorations they have, and they never disappoint. This time I found these cute little royal icing knives which I thought were perfect to decorate cupcakes. At first I wanted to make just plain vanilla cupcakes, then I changed my mind and wanted chocolate cupcakes and finally I decided red velvet would be best to get the look I was going for.

All in all I think all the effort was worth it. These cupcakes will surely impress your friends or family, but most importantly will please their taste buds.

Hope you come back before Halloween because I have one more treat for Halloween this year, if you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen what’s coming.

If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!

5 from 1 vote

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Halloween Red Velvet Cupcakes

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

25 mins

Total Time

45 mins

 

These bloody Red Velvet Cupcakes are perfect for Halloween. Traditional red velvet cupcakes, topped with a cream cheese frosting and decorated with a red icing for a bloody effect.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 12

Calories: 444 kcal

Author: Joanna Cismaru

Ingredients

For Red Velvet Cupcakes

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder unsweetened
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter unsalted, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar granulated
• 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2-3 tsp red food color

For Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 4 tbsp butter unsalted, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 cups icing sugar

For Decorations

• 12 Halloween Knife Icing Decorations optional
• 1/4 cup icing sugar
• 3 tbsp milk or more
• 2 tsp red food color

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the Cupcakes

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F degrees. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners. Spray the paper liners with cooking spray. This will ensure your cupcakes won't stick to the paper liners.

2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. In another bowl, or the bowl of your mixer, add the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix until well combined and it lightens in color. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Mix in the vanilla extract and sour cream.

4. Add the food color and mix. I usually start with 1 tsp and keep adding until I get the desired color. I ended up using a total of 3 tsp of red food color, but the color of your cupcakes may depend on which product you use.

5. Add the flour mixture and mix on low until until well incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go along.

6. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each so that it's about 3/4 full.

7. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes in the muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Beat the cream cheese and butter first until smooth. Add the vanilla extract, salt and icing sugar and continue mixing until smooth and fluffy.

2. Prepare a piping bag and fill it with the frosting and frost the cupcakes.

Decorate the Cupcakes

1. In a small bowl whisk all the icing ingredients. Use as much red food color until you achieve a dark blood like icing. The icing should be quite thin so that you can easily drizzle it.

2. Dip a knife, with the blade side down, into the red icing, then place it into the frosting of each cupcake. Drizzle with additional red icing for more of a bloody effect.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

I don't recommend using a star tip for this frosting because it's a little too thin. You can also just use a knife to frost the cupcakes, no piping bag needed.

 

Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

 

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