Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 muffin tins with liners. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. I let it cream together for about 5 minutes. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time until well incorporated. Scrap down the sides of the bowl and continue to beat.
Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three batches alternating with the buttermilk. Combine well after each addition. Add the vanilla.
Divide the batter into the liners. I use a large ice cream scooper for this to keep the size the same.
Bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes. Rotate the pans once during cooking. They are done when a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes, then let the cupcakes cool out on a rack until completely cool.
It's time to make the frosting. Cream together the butter and 6 cups of the sugar.
Add 6 Tablespoons of heavy cream and beat until very light and fluffy.
Add more sugar or cream to get the consistency that you want. I knew that I wanted to a looser frosting since I was going to pipe it so I used closer to 8-10 Tablespoons of cream.
Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the frosting.
Add the vanilla extract and almond extract.
Add food coloring to get your desired color. I used a gel color for this and a little bit goes a very long way, so start slowly.