Red Velvet Cupcakes with Creamy Vanilla Frosting

Yesterday, I decided to make my children a Valentine treat. And by "my children" I mean "myself". I've made a few different recipes for Red Velvet Cake, and this is by far my favorite-dense, but not too dense; super moist; and not too tart (many recipes call for vinegar). 
The frosting is one of my very favorites from my More From Magnolia cookbook-and the same one I used for Dylan's 6th birthday cake. It's a great recipe for people who aren't big fans of frosting-it's creamy and fluffy without being too sweet.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Makes 30 regular-sized
Source: http://www.carrottopmom.com (a copycat Sprinkles recipe)  


2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 oz. red food coloring (the liquid-not the gel)
1 Tbl. vanilla


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your cupcake pan with paper liners. 
Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. 
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add sour cream, buttermilk, food coloring and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture on low speed until combined. Spoon batter into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 full.
Bake 18-22 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.


Creamy Vanilla Frosting


6 Tbl. flour
2 cups milk
2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla  


In a medium-sized saucepan, whisk the flour into the milk until smooth. Place over medium heat and, stirring constantly, cook until mixture becomes thick and begins to bubble. Remove from heat and cover with wax paper directly on the surface. Cool to room temp, about 30 minutes. (I've tried to speed up this process by refrigerating it-you have to be really careful with this, because mine got a little too cold, and left lumps in the frosting.)
In a large bowl, on the medium high speed of an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy-about 3 minutes. Gradually add the sugar, beating until fluffy-another 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat well.
Add the milk mixture, and continue to beat on medium speed for 5 minutes. The frosting will become noticeably more white in color.


A Last Minute Semi-Crafty Valentine Idea:


I am a highly creative and crafty in person, in that I copy the ideas of highly creative and crafty people. In this case, my neighbors the Brewers. 
The kids and I really like how they turned out, and it only took about an hour to cut out a few paper hearts, tape them to our back fence, take the pictures, add the words with photoshop, (if you didn't want to use photoshop, you could make a sign and use it in the background) and pick them up at Walmart.