Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Angela and James got engaged. He proposed on Sunday, at Flattop Mountain, the most hiked mountain in Alaska — not at the top, because the top was windy and crowded with tourists, but halfway up, at a rocky outcropping with a view of the Anchorage bowl and the Cook Inlet and the Alaska Range beyond, where the world is so big it makes your problems look reasonable. He got down on one knee. Angela cried. A tourist took a photo. The photo is blurry and perfect.

I am thrilled for my sister. Genuinely, deeply, without asterisk. Angela is the person who found me on the floor. Angela is the person who drove me to therapy. Angela is the person who texts "How was your day?" every day and means "Are you alive?" Angela deserves every good thing the world has to offer and James is a good thing — steady, kind, the kind of man who climbs a mountain to ask a question he already knows the answer to, because the gesture matters, because Angela deserves the gesture.

Lourdes cried. Then she immediately began planning the wedding, which will not happen for at least a year but which Lourdes is treating as an imminent event requiring immediate action. The lumpia count is already being calculated. The guest list is being drafted. The church — St. Patrick's, obviously — is being discussed. Lourdes has been waiting for this. Not for Angela specifically, but for a wedding, a celebration, a reason to cook three hundred lumpia for joy instead of routine.

I made ube cupcakes to celebrate — purple yam cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, the ube giving the batter a lavender-purple color that looks festive and tastes earthy and sweet. I brought them to Angela's apartment and she and James ate them and showed me the ring — a simple solitaire, elegant, exactly Angela — and I stayed for an hour and then went home because new engagements need space and I know my role. I am the ate. I show up. I bring food. I leave when the couple needs to be alone.

In the car, driving home, I felt the loneliness. Not envy — loneliness. My sister has James. Mark has Carmen. Joseph has the ocean. Lourdes has all of us. I have the kitchen and the blog and the ER and the therapy and the medication and the cooking and it's a lot and it's also not the same as having a person. Some nights, the not-having is quiet. Tonight it's louder. I went home and ate an ube cupcake and let the loneliness be loud. It won't stay loud. Nothing does. But tonight, it gets its moment.

I made ube cupcakes that night, but the base I always come back to — the one that taught me how cream cheese frosting is supposed to feel, light and tangy against a sweet, tender crumb — is this red velvet recipe. The lavender of ube and the deep red of red velvet are cousins in my kitchen: both are show-up foods, bring-to-the-door foods, foods that say I made this because you matter without requiring you to say it out loud. If you want to celebrate someone the way I celebrated Angela — with something purple-adjacent and frosted and full of quiet love — start here.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Servings: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups neutral vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
16 oz (2 blocks) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line two standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners and set aside.
Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder until evenly combined.
Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, red food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla extract until smooth.
Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula until just combined — do not overmix. The batter will be thin.
Fill and bake. Divide the batter evenly among the lined cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for 18–20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool completely. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. They must be completely cool before frosting.
Make the frosting. Beat the cream cheese and butter together with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing on low after each addition. Add the vanilla and salt, then beat on medium-high for 1–2 minutes until smooth and creamy.
Frost and serve. Pipe or spread frosting generously onto each cooled cupcake. Serve immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting — The Ones I Brought to Angela’s