Anybody else turned off by how much red food colouring goes into red velvet cupcakes to get that bright red colour? I once added an entire bottle of red food colouring and it still wasn’t red! I’ve also tried alternatives like beet powder with little success as the cupcakes just turned brown after baking.

The closest I’ve ever gotten is mahogany…like these ‘red’ velvet cupcakes on my blog here.

These updated pink and white velvet cupcakes are my new take on red velvet cake and uses much less food colouring. Plus I much prefer the pretty pink and white colour over the bright red of traditional red velvet cake. It’s also perfect for Valentine’s Day!
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On the topic of traditions, did you know the original frosting for red velvet cake was not cream cheese frosting, but ermine frosting?! Everyone thinks of cream cheese frosting when they think of red velvet cake, but that’s not traditional! Mind blown right?!

As much as I love cream cheese frosting too, sometimes the runniness of cream cheese frosting just doesn’t cut it when you’re trying to do delicate piping work.

What is ermine frosting?

Ermine frosting is an old school frosting made from boiled milk and flour mixed into butter. It’s so easy, simple and delicious that I think it might be my new favourite buttercream frosting!

Here are just a few of the pros of using ermine buttercream frosting:

It’s sturdier for piping than cream cheese frosting.
It can be easily coloured with gel or liquid food colouring.
It can be easily flavoured with extracts, citrus zest or cocoa powder.
It’s stable at room temperature for several hours.⁠
It sets up fairly hard in the fridge.
It’s simple and easy to make and only requires a few ingredients.
It doesn’t require any eggs like meringue buttercreams.
It’s not too sweet. You can adjust the sugar level to taste.
It’s light and airy and not too dense or greasy.

Did I convince you yet?! Like where has this been our entire lives? And why are we just rediscovering this now?! I mean…just check out how well they piped onto this cupcake bouquet!

I don’t know about you, but I am generally not a fan of buttercream because it either tastes sickenly sweet *cough* American buttercream *cough* or it’s just very finicky like swiss meringue buttercream. Usually my go-to is good old chantilly cream (i.e. sweetened whipped cream). However, sometimes whipped cream just does not cut it either when you are trying to do delicate piping work or when you’re building a heavy cake.

Have you tried ermine frosting before? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Pink & White Velvet Cupcakes with Ermine Frosting

4 from 2 votes

Recipe by Mimi Ju Course: DessertDifficulty: Medium

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Total time

minutes

Pretty pink and white velvet cupcakes that are moist and buttery. Frosted with an old school buttercream frosting that is light and not too sweet.

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Ingredients

Cupcakes
1-1/3 cup 1-1/3 cake flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoons 1/4 baking powder
1/4 teaspoon 1/4 salt
1/4 cup 1/4 unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup 3/4 sugar
1 large 1 egg
1/2 teaspoon 1/2 pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup 1/2 buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon 1/2 white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon 1/2 baking soda
1 dab 1 pink gel colouring
Ermine frosting
1/4 cup 1/4 flour
2/3 cup 2/3 sugar
170 mL 170 milk
175 grams 175 unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons 2 vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon 1/4 salt
1 dab 1 pink gel colouring

Directions

Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
In a mixing bowl, beat butter with a stand mixer until soft. Then add sugar and beat until fluffy. Mix in egg and vanilla extract.
Add flour mixture and buttermilk to butter mixture in three additions, starting and ending with flour. Mix batter in between additions.
Combine vinegar and baking soda in a small bowl. Quickly fold into batter.
Scoop half of batter into cupcake liners. Fold in pink gel colouring to remaining batter until desired colour reached. Scoop remaining batter into cupcake liners.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Ermine Frosting
In a small pot, whisk together flour and sugar. Whisk in milk.
Place pot over medium heat and whisk constantly until thick like pudding. Transfer to a shallow bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Cool to room temperature (place over ice bath to speed up process).
Place butter in the bowl of your stand mixer. Whisk on high until light and fluffy. Slowly add flour mixture to the butter one tablespoon at a time, whipping in between additions. Scrape as needed.
Whisk in vanilla and salt until combined. Fold in pink gel colouring until desired colour reached.
Optional: Switch to paddle attachment and mix on low speed for 10 minutes to remove trapped air bubbles.
Frost cooled cupcakes with frosting and enjoy!