Drool. This is the birthday cake I made for my sister. I was a tad hesitant. I’ve never made red velvet cake before and I’ve heard that it’s ok, but not amazing. Anyhoo, I know Rach has always wanted to try one, so I decided to surprise her with one for her birthday.
I would have to say that the cake itself it’s not the most amazing cake I’ve ever tasted, but the divine icing and the colour make up for that. It was definitely a crowd pleaser and I would make it again.
Before you start, make sure you have a LARGE mixing bowl to use. I used my large one, but I once I’d added the eggs in, I realised you really do need a LARGE one. Mine was only just big enough and I spent 20 minutes wiping all the red splatters off the bench and walls and floor and myself while the cakes baked. What fun.
Ingredients:
250 grams butter (softened)
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
30ml red food colouring
3 tablespoons cocoa
3 cups flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Method:
Preheat oven to 165 degrees.
In a LARGE bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Mix food colouring with cocoa and add to the mixture, mix well.
This is where I strayed from the recipe slightly. I didn’t think three tablespoons was enough, so I put in about five… and then I had to add more food colouring to even it out. I don’t think it made much difference to be honest, apart from making it slightly more chocolatey.
Add flour and buttermilk alternately, then vanilla and salt. In a small bowl, combine vinegar and baking soda and gently fold into the mixture, being careful not to over mix.
If you are like me and you only have one 20 cm cake tin, pour a third of the mixture into your lined/greased tin and bake for 25 minutes. Leave the cake in the tin and cool for about half an hour, remove the cake and set aside to cool. Repeat x2.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients:
500 grams cream cheese (softened)
375 grams white chocolate
250 grams butter (softened)
Method:
Melt white chocolate and allow it to cool to lukewarm. In a large bowl, beat softened cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in white chocolate and softened butter. Continue to beat until it is the consistency of whipped cream.
Once all three cakes have cooled completely, use equal quantities of icing to layer the cakes up (mine was a lot more even than it looks in the photos!). Put enough icing to cover the top of the bottom cake of each layer, but not so much that it squeezes out the sides - it’s much easier to ice the outside without squishy-outy bits.
Once your cakes are layered, make sure the sides are lined up nice and straight and ice the outside (I did the sides first and it worked a charm).
Top with candles and present with a song.
The end pictures are not the greatest, but I will blame the lighting at my parents’ house for that. The red was a nice rich red, rather than the pinky red it looks in the photo, and the icing was much whiter. But hey… at least I remembered to take a picture this time!
xo
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