Red Velvet Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup milk
Lemon juice (about a half lemon)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ tbsp red food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a mixer, combine sugar, butter and 2 eggs.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder.
4. In a separate bowl, mix milk, lemon juice, vanilla, and red food coloring.
5. Add flour mixture to contents in the mixer.
6. Then blend in the food coloring mixture.
7. Divide into 18 cupcakes using cup cake liners.
8. Bake for 20 minutes and let cool in pan for a few minutes. Then remove and place on racks to cool.
9. Spread chocolate icing on top.

Chocolate Icing:
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tbsp butter
5 tbsp evaporated milk (or regular milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1. In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar. (If you don’t have confectioner’s sugar, you can always use a food processor to mix 1 cup sugar with 2 tbsp cornstarch until it is very fine.)