Velvet Cupcakes

Okay, these are supposed to be Red Velvet Cupcakes, but as you can see, they aren't red, so I had to change the name. Andy asked for these for his birthday; it's his mom's recipe. I had to buy red food coloring at the store and they only had gel colors, not liquid. I didn't think it would matter, but obviously it did. I used the whole tube of red gel color, but it only made the brown of the cocoa richer. Therefore, from now on, I will skip the red dye in this recipe. You might say that such a declaration is un-Southern of me, but it doesn't affect the taste of the cake. So why add artificial color when you don't have to? These are yummy, especially with the Cream Cheese Frosting. Mimi puts chopped pecans in her frosting, so feel free to add them. Enjoy!

Velvet Cupcakes
This makes 2 dozen cupcakes.
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 cup buttermilk
Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Beat sugar and oil with an electric mixer until combined. Add in eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add in vinegar and vanilla.
2. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients in a bowl. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Pour batter into lightly greased muffin cups.
3. Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until a pick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cool completely. Spread Cream Cheese Frosting on each cupcake.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 (8-oz.) block cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1 (16-oz.) box powdered sugar

1. Beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer. Beat in vanilla. Gradually beat in powdered sugar.