I admit it, there is nothing I like more than a good Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Icing. I also admit that all that red food coloring, the very coloring that gives the cake its charming name, kind of gives me the heebies. The way that it colors your fingers when you pick the cupcake apart, the way it leaves an incriminating red mark on your tongue long after you have consumed the sugary goodness, and really, just the idea of eating all of that food coloring, despite the delightful sweetness of the cupcake– puts a bad taste in my mouth. And so, when faced with the stunning problem of what do when faced with desire to have the cupcake, without all of the mess, I decided to make Brown Suede Cupcakes.

The Red Velvet Cupcake minus the red food coloring, proved to be just the thing to cure my sweet tooth, all the while maintaining the rules of my finicky palate. A Red Velvet Cupcake is simply a butter-heavy batter, tinged with cocoa, giving the cake only a slightly chocolatey flavor. When baked up (minus the food coloring), the cake is moist and light, with just a hint of chocolate’s color and flavor. What is the opposite of Red Velvet? Well, it’s Brown Suede. And don’t ask me why.

Although I may be breaking with tradition– perhaps you are supposed to get rosy fingertips, and a shockingly pink tongue when eating your dessert. But if you’re anything like me, and do not desire the evidence of your dessert long after you have eaten it, then Brown Suede Cupcakes are the way to go.