Red Velvet Cupcakes & Natural food coloring

I have always been drawn to food from the south (USA) for some reason. The comfort foods like mash potatoes, meat loaf, bbq's, corn on the cob, fried chicken (yes once again i blogged about fried chicken), and of course Red Velvet Cake, or aka., the Chocolate Cake of the South. The cake has a bit of a sour taste to it because of the buttermilk but it's quite enjoyable because it sort of feels like you are eating a decadent chocolaty scone. The icing also really makes it for me and for this one I used a cooked vanilla butter icing. Cream cheese would also be really yummy and I heard that is very popular. There is also a lot of food coloring needed in most Red Velvet cake recipes - I'm talking like 4tbsps to get that deep desirable red color so be sure to use a natural alternative with a red beet juice coloring extract.

Make your own ingredients:
1 cup canned beet juice, 2 teaspoons vinegar
Instructions:
Drain the can reserving 1 cup of liquid. Add 2 teaspoon of vinegar to this and you're done.

Not sure how this homemade one works in Red Velvet Cake but you can also always find a Natural, Vegan, Gluten free, Kosher liquid food coloring in certain health/whole food stores to keep things simpler:

Natural food colors are becoming more popular with consumers especially as evidence shows a correlation between certain diseases and the use of artificial colors.

Beware of bakeries that use un-natural ingredients in their food. Always ask before ordering something such as Red Velvet cupcakes.

Didn't want to throw a damper on red velvet cake, but you know, when you eat a cupcake, you want to feel good about it! :)

Also, congrats to Wyness & Eileen for making the mini-8! Enjoy this batch! I ate 6 testers myself (no joke).