Red Velvet Cake

Happy weekend!

      One of the first recipes I ever blogged about was a red velvet cake back in November 2016. Back then I did not have sufficient red food coloring, so my cake was brown. Now, several months later, I felt it was the right time to give it another go, especially considering how cream cheese frosting is not common in Azerbaijan and we had a small family gathering on Friday. Thus, here is my updated post about my second attempt at this beautiful cake from Joy of Baking! The cream cheese frosting is from YouTube baker, Bake Like a Pro.

Red Velvet Cake

• 2 1/2 cups (250 gr.) flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons (15 gr.) cocoa
• 1/2 cup (113 gr.) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cup (300 gr.) white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used powder)
• 1 cup (240 ml.) buttermilk (I added 1 tablespoon of vinegar to normal milk)
• 2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 cups (375 gr.) powdered sugar
• 250 gr. cream cheese
• 1/4 cup (57 gr.) salted butter

      That sure looks like a lot of ingredients, right? I would not call this a cake for complete beginners, but it is definitely worth the challenge. I personally made my cakes at night, so that they would have plenty of time to cool and set, as suggested by the recipe creator. In total, it took me approximately 50 minutes from start to finish for the cakes and 30 minutes for the frosting and decorating.

1. Pre-heat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius and prepare two 23 cm. cake pans by lining them with parchment paper.
2. Sift your flour, salt, and cocoa in one bowl.
3. In a separate large bowl beat your butter with an electric mixer until it is soft.
4. Add in your sugar and beat for approximately 2-3 minutes.
5. Mix in your eggs, one by one.
6. Drop in your vanilla.
7. Combine the red food coloring with your milk in a bowl/cup.
8. Alternate between your flour mixture and red milk; keep scraping the sides with a spatula to make sure everything is well-mixed.
9. Drop a teaspoon of white vinegar on your soda and let it fizz before you add it to the batter with a spatula (don’t use a mixer for this step).
10. Quickly and evenly divide your batter into the two cake pans and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes; my cake on the top layer baked a bit quicker, so after 20 minutes I switched the cakes and removed the ready one at 25 minutes, keeping the other one in for another 5-10 minutes.
11. Allow your cakes to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before you remove them and then wait for them to completely cool. You can wrap them in plastic wrap once fully cooled and keep in the fridge for a few hours/overnight or simply keep them out overnight covered in kitchen towels, provided it won’t get hot in the room (as I did).
12. Now switch to your frosting; beat your butter and cream cheese, then finish by adding your vanilla and sugar.
13. You can cut your cakes in half if you want four layers, but I kept mine whole. I did, however, even out the bottom layer with a knife, as this would be used for crumbs.
14. Place one layer on your serving plate, cover with frosting, and keep repeating with the other layers.
15. Use what you had removed when evening out your cake in order to crumble and decorate the cake.

     In general, this is a time-consuming cake, so make sure to start overnight. However, the taste and look of the cake is definitely worth all this time and effort! The cake in itself has a light chocolate flavor and contrasts very nicely with the sweet, creamy frosting. My family was in awe of the appearance and really enjoyed the taste, so I can confidently recommend this recipe.

Until next time!

– Zi