It’s beginning to feel more like fall in Los Angeles with some cooler weather and the return of college football! And with that, I’m sharing my Black Velvet Dr Pepper Cupcake recipe which is perfect for tailgating or homegating!

I have to admit, I didn’t experience tailgating in college – we didn’t have a football team, just a really good Ultimate Frisbee team and a silly mascot. So the first tailgating I ever did was at a concert because here in Los Angeles the traffic is so bad that you sometimes have to go to a concert early. Like, very early. Or you sit in the car going 5 MPH for 2 hours. I prefer to do the former. And that’s when I learned how much fun tailgating can be! Food, drinks, and friends for a couple of hours before enjoying a game or a show – it’s awesome! 

I’m a bit of a lazy tailgater. I cannot believe that people bring full-on barbecue setups for tailgating! Good for them, but I’m more of a cooler girl – load up a cooler with cold sandwiches, cold drinks, and some cupcakes! Easy. And those cupcakes? Even easier because they are made using a box mix!

But the great thing is that no one will know they are box mix cupcakes – using Dr Pepper and some black coloring gel elevates the cupcakes and your friends and family will think you made them totally from scratch! 

Here’s the ingredients, you can find the full printable recipe below:

Cupcakes:

• Red Velvet cake mix
• Dr Pepper
• black food coloring gel
• buttermilk
• eggs

Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting:

• unsalted butter
• cream cheese
• powdered sugar
• salt
• vanilla extract
• cherry preserves
• cherry or licorice for garnish

There are some Dr Pepper box mix cupcake recipes that simply call for the box mix combined with 12 oz of Dr Pepper – super, super simple, but I’m so lazy when tailgating, that I decided not to be so lazy with my cupcakes and kept the eggs, oil, and buttermilk and went with only 5 oz of Dr Pepper. If you do this (which is overloading your cupcakes with liquids), make sure you fill your cupcake liners FULL, or else they will shrink down when you pull them out of the oven. 

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Black Velvet Dr Pepper Cupcakes with Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: 18-24 cupcakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Black Velvet Dr Pepper Cupcakes with Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting

Print

Ingredients

• Black Velvet Dr Pepper Cupcakes:
• 1 Red Velvet cake mix
• 1 12 oz. can Dr Pepper
• 2 tsp. black food coloring gel
• substitute buttermilk for milk/water in cake mix recipe
• Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting:
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 8 oz. package cream cheese, cold, cubed
• 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2-4 Tbsp. cherry preserves
• optional cherry or licorice garnish

Instructions

1. Following the instructions on the back of you cake mix, preheat your oven and mix together your cake mix, 5 oz of Dr Pepper, eggs, oil, and swap buttermilk in for the called for water or milk. Combine well and then add in 2 tsp. of black food coloring gel.
2. Fill your cupcake liners nearly full and bake according the cake mix instructions.
3. As the cupcakes are baking, combine your unsalted butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and cherry preserves in your mixer and mix well.
4. Start with 2 Tbsp of cherry preserves and add more until the taste/color are to your liking.
5. After the cupcakes are done baking and have cooled, frost your cupcakes and add a cherry or licorice garnish.
6. Enjoy!

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