So before I give you my recipe, a few hints with Red Velvet. First and foremost - WEAR AN APRON! Red food colouring can be a nightmare to clean so also be sure to rinse and wipe everything well when you're done. Secondly, take your cream cheese, butter, eggs and buttermilk out of the fridge a few hours before you start. This will make the whole process a lot easier, particularly when it comes to making your frosting. Lastly, you will need one LARGE mixing bowl, one MEDIUM mixing bowl, two SMALL bowls and two 20cm cake tins to complete this recipe.
Red Velvet Cake (makes 1 double layer cake or about 24 cupcakes)
2 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
2 tbsp cocoa powder
40 mL red food colouring
120g unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups caster suar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp bicarb soda
450g cream cheese, softened
120g unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 - 3 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1. Preheat oven to 160⁰C (fan-forced). Line the base, butter and flour two 20 cm pans (I used spring-form, but any cake tin would be fine).
2. In the medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
3. In the small bowl, mix food colouring and cocoa power to form a lump-free paste (the consistency will be about the same as a thin batter).
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| Red cocoa paste |
4. In the large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy using a hand mixer. (This step can get VERY messy. Make sure your butter is really soft before you add the sugar and also giving it a quick mix with a wooden spoon to stick all the sugar granules to the butter can also help).
5. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined. Then beat in vanilla and cocoa paste making sure to incorporate the left overs on the sides of the bowl.
6. Gently mix in 1/3 flour mix, then half the buttermilk, 1/3 flour, half buttermilk and finish with the remaining flour.
7. In a small, mix vinegar and bicarb. Add to the batter and stir well to combine.
8. Quickly divide the batter between the pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes, until slightly springy and a skewer is coming out clean. (Be careful NOT to take these cakes out of the oven too soon or they will sink). Cupcakes will take about 17 minutes in the oven and may be slightly sticky when you pull them out.
9. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.
10. Make the icing by beating cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Stir in vanilla extract. Sift in icing sugar, half a cup at a time, blending on low speed after each addition. 3-3 1/2 cups of icing sugar will give you an icing that is just stiff enough to hold stars, but still tasting like cream cheese. If you need stiffer icing for more complex decoration, add another half cup of icing sugar.
11. Level out your cakes if needed. Place one layer on your cake plate and top with about half a cup of icing. Spread to within 1-2 centimeters of the edges. Top with second cake layer. Smooth icing over remaining surface, using a palette knife if possible. To decorate, use a piping bag with a small star attachment. The bottom decoration is a "shell" - push icing out then swipe down to finish the shell. The top decoration is a simple star - squeeze the piping bag gently while holding it straight down, release and pull the bag upwards.
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| The finished prodct |
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| It's what's on the inside that counts! |
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