Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Red food colouring 
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

For the frosting:

• 2 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 1 1/3 cups cold heavy whipping cream

Directions

Make the cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celcius. Line a cupcake pan with liners.
2. In a bowl beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, white vinegar, vanilla extract and enough red food coloring until the mixture is well combined and reaches your desired color.
3. In a separate medium bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, 1/2 a cup at a time, mixing between each addition to avoid any lumps in the batter.
5. Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full with batter and bake for 18 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
6. Transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool completely (place in the fridge to help speed up the process if you need to frost the cupcakes soon).

Make the frosting:

1. In a bowl beat the cream cheese until smooth. Sift the powdered sugar into the bowl, beating to combine, then add the vanilla essence.
2. Scrape down any cream cheese from the sides of the bowl, and then with the whisk beating at medium-high speed, stream in the cold heavy cream until the frosting is thick enough to pipe.
3.  Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with your desired pastry tip. 
4. Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and serve immediately.

(recipe adpated from here)