“Not-So-Red” Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I have wanted to make red velvet cupcakes for some time, but finding the right recipe and figuring out how to avoid using red food coloring have held me back from baking them.  After a considerable amount of searching, I finally settled on this recipe from Kim O'Donnel's A Mighty Appetite blog on WashingtonPost.com.  Unfortunately though, before I selected this recipe, I had purchased big jar of white vinegar — a staple of many red velvet recipes — and so if anyone has any thoughts on what I should do with it, please let me know! 

I followed the recipe (including cream cheese frosting) almost exactly, except for adding in the red food coloring.  I instead tried to puree a few baby beets to add them to the mixture, but unfortunately, they didn't turn out to have the consistency I would have preferred (probably because I used a magic bullet instead of a real blender, so I admit it was a half-hearted attempt).   So, I decided to forgo the color additive and just make light brown cupcakes.   

The batter was remarkably rich and velvety when I poured it into the cupcake tray.  I have to admit sampling a bit of the uncooked batter and it was DELICIOUS.  Needless to say, I was very much looking forward to sampling these not-so-red velvet cupcakes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the cupcakes when they came out of the oven — they had a fantastic cinnamon flavor and were perfectly moist.  The next day though, I found them to have dried out a fair amount in the airtight container I put them in, and despite the flavor, the cupcakes had definitely lost their charm.  They were not necessarily dry but the consistency just wasn't even and the cupcakes almost stuck to my mouth — not a pleasant feeling. 

So definitely recommend this recipe if you are planning on serving them right away, but would not recommend making these cupcakes a day ahead of time.  And now that I have finally tried making not-so-red velvet cupcakes at home, I hope to try another recipe soon!