Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

I’d been dying to make red velvet cupcakes and what better opportunity than for a Pink Party with some of my friends. (Yes, the frosting is a deeper pink, but for some reason my camera didn’t capture the exact hue.)
I used this recipe from the Food Network site, but I must offer some caveats. My oven is slow to heat up, but once it does, it always goes above the temperature it’s supposed to be.
I should have kept a closer eye on these cupcakes, but I didn’t, and for that reason, they were a little more dry than I would have liked. This meant the red wasn’t quite so vibrant in the outside layer. To be safe though, I think I would use more food colouring than the recommended amount in the future.
My main pet peeve, though, as my husband discovered when he found me sulking in the kitchen and banging around piping tips and spatulas, was that the cream cheese frosting was much, much, much too soft to be piped.
I did place it in the refrigerator for half an hour, but still no dice.
Be forewarned, the recipe produced batter for about 24 cupcakes rather than the 16 it promised, and frosting for about twice that amount.