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 vaca, 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 man. (Or woman. Because right now she wants to marry her BFF, so you never know.)

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'm 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.

And because red velvet lends itself to red, white, and blue for the 4th, I did a swirled blue frosting. It was totally easy. You just drip blue food coloring down a prepared pastry bag. What's not easy? Photographing that step.

Red, white, and blue scrumptious cupcakes.

Perfect after a day playing at the pool, don'tcha think?

What would you put on your dream hotel list?

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes

by Crazy for Crust

Ingredients

For the Red Velvet

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 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 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 oz. red food coloring

For the Cheesecake

• 2 packs cream cheese (16 ounces), room temperature
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs, room temperature

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners. This will make about 30 cupcakes.
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk.
3. Whisk eggs in a medium bowl. Add remaining liquid ingredients and whisk until blended. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix on until completely combined. Place about 2 tablespoons of batter in each cupcake liner (I used a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop for this.)
4. Make the cheesecake: Mix cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and eggs with a hand mixer until smooth. Drop about 1-2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture on top of the cupcake batter.
5. Bake about 15-18 minutes and let cool completely before frosting. (Note: the cupcakes can be frozen once cooled and frosted at a later date.)
6. Make the frosting: Using a hand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Slowly add in powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
7. For the blue swirl effect, get your pastry bag ready (I used a 1M tip). Take food coloring (I used regular grocery store kind for this) and drip it down the bag at evenly spaced intervals, about 4 times. Add frosting (carefully) to bag and pipe onto cupcakes. Store in refrigerator.

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Talent Show Tuesday at Chef in Training, Trick or Treat Tuesday at Inside BruCrew Life, Cast Party Wednesday at Lady Behind the Curtain, Sweet Treats Thursday at Something Swanky, Chic-and-Crafty at the Frugal Girls, Tastetastic Thursday at A Little Nosh, Sweet Tooth Friday at Alli-n-sons, I'm Lovin' it Fridays at TidyMom, Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies, A Well-Seasoned Life, Strut your Stuff Saturday at Six Sisters' Stuff, and all of these too!