The Glamorous Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet cake seems to be everywhere I look at the moment–at a friend’s birthday party, at one of the cafes I visit in order to write and on my favorite television cooking shows.

I’m a recent convert to the Red Velvet cake, and I remember where I sampled my first piece. It was at a California Kitchen in Los Angeles for my dessert. I enjoyed every mouthful.

I’ve been wanting to try making my own for ages and found a recipe on one of my favorite local sites Baking Makes Things Better. Yesterday was the day. The actual recipe was very easy, but my trials started when I looked through my cupboard for a suitable tin to bake my cake. I had a springform tin, but I learned my lesson last year. If your cake batter is runny, do not use one of these tins because the mixture will leak through the bottom and make a mess in the oven! Take this as a public service announcement and don’t repeat my mistake.

I ended up using two loaf tins in which to bake my cake.

Here’s the recipe:

Dry Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

Wet Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

50ml red liquid food coloring (1 bottle)

Method:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

2. Mix all the wet ingredients together in a different bowl.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

4. Grease two tins (20 cm cake tin)

5. Place half the mixture in each tin.

6. Cook in oven preheated to 180C/360F for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

7. Cool and frost.

Frosting:

250 grams cream cheese

200 grams butter (softened)

5 cups icing sugar (Confectioner’s sugar)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Combine all ingredients and frost cake.

Shelley’s notes:

1. The cake mixture is in-your-face red but it’s meant to look like that. I managed to get red cake mix everywhere. I think I had a bad day, but take care

2. I didn’t have any buttermilk and used regular milk, which worked fine.

3. This cake is delicious!