Freshly Baked: Red Velvet Cake

Along with my new years resolution to bake more, the second baking experience happened to fall on Jo's 30th birthday in Melbourne. Its pretty difficult to cook in someone elses kitchen not knowing their oven but it turned out to be one of the best cakes I have ever made ( I think it's because I made it with so much love).

Serves: 8

Preparation time: more than 30 minutes

Ingredients

21/2 cups plain flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

50 mL red food colouring

120 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

11/2 cups sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream cheese icing

450 g cream cheese, softened

120 g unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

21/2 cups icing sugar, sifted

Pinch of salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Butter and flour two 23 cm round cake pans, or three 20 cm round

cake pans.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, mix food colouring and cocoa powder to form a thin, smooth paste. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light

and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

5. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the

bowl frequently with a spatula. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat

well, then beat in half of the buttermilk.

6. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third

of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a

spatula.

7. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Add it to the cake batter and stir well to

combine.

8. Working quickly, divide batter evenly between the cake pans and bake at 180°C for 25-30

minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

9. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. To remove the cakes from the pan,

place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, then gently lift the pan. Allow cakes to

cool completely before icing.

10. Icing: With an electric mixer, blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth.

11. Reduce speed to low, and blend in icing sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Increase speed to high,

and beat until light and fluffy.

Recipe notes

Wear an apron and be careful with the red food colouring – no matter how hard I try, I always end up

staining something! If you prefer a sweeter or stiffer icing, more icing sugar can be added (up to four

cups) but this will reduce the cream cheese taste.