July 28, 2008

One of our favoRED things........


Let them (me) eat cake!

The deliciousness that is......."Red Velvet Cake". What words can describe our favoRED cake? Sweet, dark, creamy, delicious, yummy. Is it only our 'fav' because it is red? No! Well, maybe...it's chocolate too! Is it really the cake we love or is it the frosting? Oh, yes we love the frosting too. But it is the combination of a cake that is not too sweet, and a frosting that it deliciously sweet. A cake that is red and lovely and a frosting that is white and creamy. It is everything about it, that makes it so delicious. During the summer months we will celebrate 6 of our 7 birthdays! Leaving only poor JM in the wintertime. But that is what is great about her birthday, she doesn't have to share it with anyone else. Back to the cake... we celebrate a lot of events with this cake. We don't usually bake it ourselves because we have a wonderful bakery that makes the absolute best about 20 miles away. 20 miles you say, that's pretty far to drive for cake, NO IT IS NOT! Please excuse my yelling. I lost control thinking about the cake. I'm sorry. I don't kid around when it comes to cake. We do bake it at home and when we do we use this fab recipe.
Red Velvet Cake~
Vegetable oil for the pans 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring (1 ounce)
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease & dust 3 9inch round pans.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, & cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, & vanilla. Using a mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and batter is smooth.

Divide the cake batter evenly in the 3 prepared pans. Place the pans in the oven evenly spaced apart. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pans, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the oven and run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the sides. Invert the cakes onto a plate and then re-invert them onto a cooling rack, rounded-sides up. Let cool completely. Frost.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Using a mixer, mix the cream cheese, sugar, & butter on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, & mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy. Store in the refrigerator until somewhat stiff, before using. May be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days. Yeah like it’s gonna last 3 days!
Enjoy! jt


1 comment:

BottledBeauty said...

mmm, the best frosting in the world!