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These Red Velvet Cream Cheese Cupcakes are PERFECT for any occasion! Birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, the 4th of July – if you’re craving red velvet you NEED these in your life.
I mean – homemade red velvet cake, filled with cheesecake, topped with cream cheese frosting? It doesn’t get any better!
Table of Contents
Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes
The Fourth of July is coming up soon, which means it’s summer, which means it’s travel season.
I love to travel. I love to stay in hotels. And I’ve totally passed on that love to Jordan.
We don’t camp. Well, Jordan and Mel probably would. To be more specific, I don’t camp. That’s really a whole post all on it’s own, but the gist of it is, if I’m on vacay, I don’t want to work to set up my room. I don’t want to cook. I don’t want to be dirty. I want to sleep on a comfy bed.
So we stay in hotels.
Another problem I have? I like to be comfortable. And comfortable, to me, is not shoving the three of us into one room. Where’s the fun in that? I want to put Jordan to bed and go sit in a different place, drink wine, and watch TV alone with my husband. So we like to stay in suite hotels, whenever possible. I’ve become a genius at reading room descriptions. {“Suite” does not necessarily mean separate bedroom.}
I have damaged my child so much that, when we moved from a two bedroom suite at one hotel to a resort with a one bedroom suite in Phoenix, she cried because the “sofa bed wouldn’t be comfortable enough.”
Yes. I know that her future husband is going to have to be a special kind of person.
Anyway, it’s hard to find the perfect hotel room this time of year. So I’ve put together a list of things I would put in the hotel I would build if I won the lotto. Is that weird?
*Every room would be a suite, one or two bedroom, with the bathroom in between the living area and sleeping area. Not in the living area, causing the middle of the night tippy-toe dance around the sleeping child to deal with mommy bladder.
*Only real hair dryers would be supplied. With diffusers. Can I get an amen?
*Kids would eat free. All day. And everyone gets free breakfast. {And no, granola bars and stale pastry do not qualify as “breakfast.”}
*There would be a water slide at the pool.
*And free drinks with umbrellas.
*And free massages.
*And free childcare.
Wait a minute…this list is beginning to sound like I want to be travelling without my kid.
Hmmmm…
Oh, wait, I forgot one.
*Free cupcakes at turn down service. Because those little tiny chocolates really don’t cut it, do they?
These cupcakes would.
Red Velvet. Cheesecake. Cream Cheese Frosting.
All in one bite.
Perfect after a day playing at the pool, don’tcha think?
A few notes about the recipe:
- The cake recipe is SUPER easy to make from scratch. If you really want to use a box mix, you can, but you’ll need to double the filling and frosting recipe.
- There is JUST enough cheesecake for all 24 cupcakes. Same goes with the frosting.
- If you want an even richer red color, add another 1 tablespoon red food coloring.
- Try to keep the cream cheese mixture in the center of the cupcake when you spread it around. The ones that had the cream cheese touching the liner were a little deformed. They’re not gorgeous cupcakes, but once you frost them it doesn’t matter. Also – they’re so good no one will notice.
- They freeze well, unfrosted!
Enjoy!
Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup oil
- 1 cup buttermilk or 1 teaspoon vinegar with enough milk to make 1 cup
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon red food coloring
Cheesecake:
- 1 8 ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line cupcake pans with liners.
- Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Add eggs, oil, buttermilk, white vinegar, and vanilla to a large measuring cup or extra bowl and whisk until combined. Add to dry ingredients and mix with a hand mixer until smooth. Add red food coloring and mix slowly until combined.
- Place about 2-3 tablespoons of batter into the bottom of each cupcake liner (about 1/2 full).
- Make the cheesecake: Mix cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and sour cream with a hand mixer until smooth. Drop about 1 or 1 1/2 tablespoons of cheesecake mixture on top of each cupcake. Smooth it around with the back of a spoon (try to keep it from touching the edges, the cupcakes stay prettier that way).
- Bake about 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the cake part comes out clean. The cream cheese filling will be the teeniest bit jiggly still. Cool to room temperature, then chill for at least 2 hours before frosting. (Note: the cupcakes can be frozen once cooled and frosted at a later date.)
- Make the frosting: Using a hand or a stand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Slowly add in powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
- Frost the top of each cupcake with a bit of frosting. For a decorative effect, use a 1M tip with a pastry bag. Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Recipe Nutrition
Click here for my complete list of Valentine’s Day Recipes!
Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars
Red Velvet Hugs Blossom Cookies
I made these yesterday and people loved them! The cheesecake mixture sunk for me as well; however, they still tasted great. They just had a sort of cheesecake “core” rather than the cheesecake being on top, as in your pictures. Mine took about 20 minutes to bake, and at that point they were perfectly cooked and a knife inserted through the middle (including through the cheesecake part) came out clean.
My cheesecake mixture was too thick to spread around, but I’m thinking that’s because my cream cheese wasn’t all the way warmed to room temperature. I’m thinking that if my cream cheese had actually been room temperature, then that mixture would have been much thinner/runnier and would have stayed on the top of the cupcake rather than sinking down.
Great tips! I’m glad you like them!
Hello! I made these cupcakes and they were such a major HIT ! Thank you for this amazing post! I was wondering if you have a cake version of this recipe, I really want to make it for the forth of July! (:
Everybody LOVES these cupcakes! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so surprised to hear people having issues with this recipe. I make this recipe all the time and get RAVE reviews!! Thanks for such an awesome go-to recipe!!
I am so surprised to read people having trouble with this recipe!! I make these all the time and people RAVE over them! They turn out perfectly every time! Thank you so so much for a great recipe!
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