ASo I found this fabulous red velvet cupcake recipe that resulted in light and fluffy and moist domed cupcakes. The only thing I did different was substitute half the oil for melted butter...for flavor and they don't come out as greasy that way. I thought hey if I take out the 3 tsp of cocoa powder and food coloring, I'd have the perfect cupcake base for other flavors. That ended up failing when I made wedding cake cupcakes that way. First of all, the batter was so much thinner than the rv cupcakes. They also took much longer to bake, and had crunchy flat tops like a cookie. What happened? Does food coloring and cocoa powder make that much difference? They were such small ingredients in the rv cupcakes. Thanks.

I'm no expert by any means, but I think you should have replaced with cocoa powder with something like flour.  The cocoa powder is a dry ingredient, so when you take it away you have to replace it, even though it is only 3 tsp.  Are you sure you also put in baking soda?  I forgot once and had an awful mess.  Now I check, and recheck before putting batter into my cupcake liners! 

 

I like a good butter milk cake too, and essentially, that is what red velvet is after you take away the cocoa powder and food coloring.  Have you tried looking for a white buttermilk cake?  That may give you the taste that you are looking for. 

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It wasn't the baking soda bc I made it 2 more times one with wedding cake flavor and one with lemon with the same results. I forgot to mention I also added about a half cup sugar to the non red velvet ones. Yes I probably should've added flour. I can't wait to try it with the added flour. If that fails I'll try a white buttermilk recipe. Thank you for your help :-).