It's Raining Red Velvet Cakes

Well,I'm listening to Madonna's song Jump and eating a slice of my red velvet cake. I could not have asked for more :-) This cake has been tempting me for a long time until i decided to take action and make it. Red Velvet cake is more of a celebration cake here mostly served for weddings. It has the distinct deep red color and with a white frosting make its so rich and unique. I was searching for a good recipe and then Joy of Baking came to rescue.

I followed the recipe,but I made some subtle changes/additions to it. I added baking powder to make it little more fluffy. Also I used half the amount of the red color recommended. The recipe called for buttermilk. I didn't have buttermilk, so as Stephanie of this site says I made the buttermilk by adding 1 tbsp of distilled vinegar(you can use lemon juice also) to 1 cup of milk. I intend to make cupcakes with this recipe, but ended up making a batch of cupcakes and a two layer cake. Honestly, I didn't have the patience to bake a second batch of cupcakes. But in the end it all came out well, which was what mattered.


Waiting to get baked!!

For the cream cheese frosting, I used a recipe found in a old copy of Ladies Home Journal magazine. Cream cheese is readily available in markets here. If you want to make home made cream cheese, you can try Ria's home made cream cheese



Ingredients:
For the cake:
Adapted from Joy of Baking

All purpose flour - 2 cup
Cornflour - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Cocoa Powder - 2 tbsp
Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Eggs - 2
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Buttermilk - 1 cup
Red food color - 1 tbsp
Distilled vinegar - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp

For the Frosting :
Adapted from Ladies Home Journal Magazine

Cream Cheese - 150 gm
Butter - 150 gm
Icing Sugar - 2 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

How to prepare the cake:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for cakes
  
• Butter two - 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper.
• In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt,baking powder and cocoa powder.
  
• Beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
• In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring.
• Add the flour mixture and buttermilk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour to butter-sugar mixture
  
• In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
• Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon.
• Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
  
• Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the freezer for at least an hour. (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

How to prepare the frosting:

• Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
• Add icing sugar and vanilla essence and beat just until combined and smooth.
  

How to assemble the cake:

• Place one of the cake layers, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter.
• Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting.
• Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers.
• Frost the top and sides of the cake.

Once the frosting is done, it's ready to eat!! For the cupcakes, some changes has to be done. The oven temperature should be 325 F. And bake for approx 20-25 min.



And I'm dedicating this to lovely Ria as part of her birthday celebration event. :-)