Red velvet cupcakes are a rich chocolate cupcake. They are called red velvet due to their unique rich red color. Back in the early 1900s, a lighter unprocessed cocoa was used to make red velvet cupcakes, and it would react with the acid in the buttermilk used in red velvet cupcake recipes to create the warm rich color that we have come to know and love. Nowadays, cocoa powder is much darker and more often than not, red food coloring is used to give the cupcakes their “red velvet”. Not only is food coloring bad for you, but it has a bitter taste. While you might not notice the taste of the food dye, if you compared it to a pure red velvet cupcake, you would see that the pure tastes better. But no matter how you bake your red velvet cupcakes, they are sure to come out tasting delicious!