red velvet cupcakes w/ buttermilk frosting

It was my hubby's birthday this past Sunday. Happy Birthday sweetie!
I asked him what he wanted for a treat. "your cheesy hamburgers!" He exclaimed. Ok, that was a given, but what sweet treat, what type of cake? He didn't care. A good old chocolate cake from the box was fine with him. :::shudder::: A cake mix from a box? Oh no, as much as I love a good fast and easy cake mix, I just couldn't on a special birthday. A birthday deserves a homemade moist, buttery cake from scratch, period.
How about red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting? Sure, he was in--as long as it has frosting on it he was in.



I remember seeing on 'Throwdown with Bobby Flay" a duel on red velvet cupcakes recently and wanted to try it out.
So with these cupcakes I wanted, really wanted, a better cream cheese frosting. I wanted cream cheese for sure but wanted the cream cheese frosting to be really cream-cheesy tasting, if that makes any sense. So, to spare you the long details, after playing around with various cream cheese frosting combo's I came up with a cream cheese-buttermilk frosting. Yeah, it's really decadent, but it truly went so perfectly with the tangy red velvet cupcakes. I love what flavor buttermilk creates in a recipe.



The recipe for the cupcakes is here and my frosting is, well, off the cuff...like all my other creations. So bear with me as I don't have precise measurements. Experimenting is fun, yes? And you all are cooks and know how much to put in....yes?

red velvet cupcakes
from bobby flay
print recipe

buttermilk-cream cheese frosting
from vanillasugarblog.com

Notes:
You can use my frosting or you can use bobby flay's; I've included both here.

For the cupcakes:
15 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
13 ounces granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons red food coloring
1 1/4 teaspoons vinegar (white or apple cider can both work)
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 cup water

For Bobby Flay's the cream cheese frosting:
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound butter, room temperature
2 pounds powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.

In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix oil, sugar, and buttermilk until combined. Add eggs, food coloring, vinegar, vanilla and water and mix well. Add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time and mix on low, scraping down sides occasionally, and mix until just combined. Be sure not to over mix, or the batter will come out tough.

Line a 16-cup cupcake pan with paper liners, scoop the batter into the liners and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.
For the cream cheese frosting:

Whip the butter and cream cheese together in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until creamed. Gradually add powdered sugar to the mixture and scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and mix until combined.
The frosting can be used right away, or stored in the refrigerator up to a week.
Frost cooled cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting.

buttermilk-cream cheese frosting (off the cuff):
1 block of cream cheese (8oz.) room temp.,
about 1 cup + or - of confectioners sugar,
2 tb + or - of buttermilk.

Sift confectioners sugar to get out lumps, then cream everything together until desired consistency.
It has a nice buttermilk & cream cheese taste--which I loved.
I have always put toasted walnuts or pecans on my red velvet cake, on the sides, all the way around or just on top.
Do you? It's a southern thing isn't if memory serves me right.