Sexy Little Red Velvet Cup Cakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from "Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body"
Makes 24 cupcakes
Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the cake:
2½ cups all purpose flour
1½ cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1½ cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk (combine 1 cup nonfat milk w/ 1 tbsp lemon juice is you don’t have buttermilk)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. white vinegar
red food coloring
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 tub cream cheese
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 t lemon juice
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt; whisk to combine. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar. Beat on medium speed until well blended. Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared liners (I use an ice cream scoop and it’s the perfect scooping tool for batter too). Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract and lemon juice. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.

 
*I used a piping bag. No tip, just cut off the end of a piping bag and started frosting the cupcakes.
Store cupcakes in the refrigerator, remove an hour before they will be served so the frosting can soften back up.

This is love in every bite...