Red Velvet and Orange Cheesecake Marbled Cupcakes with Chocolate-Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

My baby boy, James, turned two this week.  I can't believe how grown up he is!  To celebrate with him, I decided to make cupcakes so we wouldn't be stuck with all the leftovers that a cake brings.  We were just having a few cousins over and this recipe was perfect because we just ended up with one (that I would never have eaten for breakfast the next morning).  I'm sure James didn't appreciate the deliciousness of the cupcakes, but if I'm going to make something, I want to be able to enjoy it!  This recipe is probably one of the best cupcakes I have ever tasted.  They didn't look great (mostly because of my mistake) but they tasted AMAZING!  I got the cupcake recipe from Restless Chipotle and the frosting recipe here. 

Click here for printable recipe.

Posted by Katie.

Ingredients:

Red Velvet Cake- 

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

3 Tbsp. Cocoa

4 Tbsp. red food coloring

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup whole milk buttermilk (or substitute)

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. white vinegar

Orange Cheesecake-

4 oz. cream cheese (not low fat)

2 Tbsp. freshly grated orange peel

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

For the velvet cake- Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat well.

Use a spatula to scrape any butter mixture off the sides of the bowl and mix again until well blended.

In a separate bowl, mix the food coloring and cocoa until a paste forms.  I didn't have quite enough food coloring so I added in a little water to make the paste.

Add the cocoa mixture to the butter mixture until it is evenly blended.  Scrape sides and check for streaks then blend again.

Add 1/4 cup buttermilk, mix.  Add half the flour, mix.  Add the remaining buttermilk, mix, Add the remaining flour, mix.  Now stir in the baking soda and vinegar until blended.

For the cheesecake- Beat together all ingredients until creamy and well-blended.

Do not whip.

Assemble- Place liners in muffin cups.  Fill about 2/3 with red velvet batter.  Add about a tablespoon of cheesecake batter to the top.  DO NOT OVERFILL like I did :)  If you don't overfill, this would probably make about 15 cupcakes.

Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Below is a picture of what happens if you overfill the cups...

Let cool completely and then make frosting.

Chocolate-Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:

8 oz pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 (16 oz) pkg. powdered sugar

1/4 cup buttermilk (or substitute)

Directions:

Beat first 4 ingredients until creamy.  In a separate bowl, combine powdered sugar and cocoa.  Gradually add  to butter/cream cheese mixture with buttermilk, alternately, beginning and ending with powdered sugar mixture.

Beat at low speed until blended after each addition.  Beat until desired consistency.  For good piping consistency, refrigerate until reached.

Pipe or spread frosting over cupcakes.

Enjoy!