Next issue, HAPPY SUPER BELATED VALENTINE'S DAY everyone! Where did all of you celebrate? Gosh! as for me, I just baked a Red Velvet cake over the weekend for my family and friends. Lol..
Red Velvet has been one of my absolute favourite cake amongst others. Since discovering it, I've been having it as as my birthday cake every year. Yummm..
This year, I decided to attempt to bake my very first red velvet cake. The recipe below was adapted off you tube, and I apologise as I coudln't remember who to link it to now. However, in my opinion I felt that the cake could be a little more dense. Not that the cake isn't tasty.. but I just love my cakes moist. Lol.. I believe it's preference. Soon I shall retry to re-bake this cake and will tweak it further.
For the intense Red colour, I used red powdered colouring instead of gel or liquid as I read somewhere that powdered colouring pignmentation's intense and better. When it came to the wording, I decided to make it look like vines or wrinkly tree branch. Well, that's in my own imagination. Something along the lines of "Vines of Love" hmm.... anyway that's just my crazy mind thinking out loud. {Lol..}
As for the cream cheese frosting, it's my very own [recipe] and this time I don't have a recipe. At times I am just so use to making the frosting that everything I throw together is an estimated figure. Once again, please forgive me. I recalled Chef Michael Smith said this once and I quote after him "What's the recipe, the secret is there's no recipe and all according to taste!"
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| Chic Gorgeous's L.O.V.E Red Velvet Cake |
The recipes I posted below are just a suggestion, that I refer to, to have an idea. Should you have come across better red velvet cake recipe, do feel free to comment and share the link or recipe. It's always nice to have foodies sharing their thoughts. Don't you think so?
Recipe:
** exact recipe can be used for cupcakes, yields approx. 1 dozen
Red Velvet Cake
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. red food coloring (two bottles) or 4 oz beet juice (if you use unprocessed light cocoa you can leave out the food dyes and you'll get a warm red/brown color)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 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
To prepare red velvet cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (Line two 12-cup muffin tins or silicone pans with cupcake liners, if planning to bake cupcakes).
2. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a smaller bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. 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.
4. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Be careful as it will fizz so don't do it in a shallow bowl. Add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Fill cake tin or cupcake cups with cake batter until they are a little under 3/4 full. I ended up with 20 cupcakes. Place muffin tins in your preheated oven. Bake for approximately 20 minutes for cupcakes, approx. 30 minutes rotating pans halfway through for cake. The cake or cupcakes are done when you are able to pat the tops and the cake springs back up. If it sinks down they are not yet complete. Or you can insert a toothpick into the center of a cupcake in the center of the tin and if it comes out clean they are done!
5. Cool the cake or cupcakes in their tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely before frosting.
Em's Magnificent Cream Cheese Icing
adapted form the 06/98 Epicurious.com Cream Cheese Icing recipe
1 8oz pkg of cream cheese - room temperature, divided in three parts
2 tablespoons unsalted butter - COLD
1 tablespoon shortening
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used clear vanilla extract by Wilton)
1 cup powdered sugar
To prepare cream cheese frosting:
1. Beat sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and combine very well.
2. Add the first third of the cream cheese and combine very well. Add the shortening and combine very well. Add the remaining cream cheese one piece at a time, combining very well after each. Gradually add the sugar and combine thoroughly until light and fluffy.
Note: I doubled the amount of all cream cheese recipe above and added additional 2 more cups of powdered or icing sugar for frosting consistency. Also I don't like my frostings to be overly sweet, so a suggestion is be gentle with the powdered sugar and taste as you go along. To enhance my frosting, I added approx. 2 tbsps of Limoncello liquer and some lemon juice.
Till then!
xx
