The best Red Velvet recipe ever

I know you are thinking, "Another red velvet recipe?" Well yes, when Hai asks for cupcakes for her big 3-0 I can only reply with, "what flavor?" This was my first attempt at Red Velvet and i must say it was a Sweet Success! I'm not sure how I feel about the food coloring, it is just buttermilk cake after all, but people love the taste of RED.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 TBSP ghirardelli ground chocolate
  
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (1% milk fat)
  
• 3 eggs
• red gel food coloring 1 small bottle (about 1 TBSP)
  
• 1 1/4 teaspoons white wine vinegar
  
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/8 cup water
  

Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and chocolate powder into a bowl and set aside.

Mix oil, sugar, and buttermilk until combined. Add eggs, food coloring, vinegar, vanilla and water and mix well. Add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time and mix on low until just combined. Be sure not to over mix, or the batter will come out tough.

The mini cupcakes bake for about 10 -12 minutes. Regular cupcake pan will require 20 minutes. Try not to over-bake!

*** I prefer the gel coloring because the color is more intense than the liquid. You will need 2 tablespoons of the liquid food coloring. You can use beet juice but the cupcakes will be more of a pink than red.

I did not have cocoa powder and substituted the ground chocolate instead. If you have cocoa power you can use 1 1/4 teaspoons instead of the ground chocolate and increase the sugar to 2 cups.