Red Velvet Cake

It's no secret I love a Red Velvet Cupcake. I love these Red Velvet Cupcakes from Sift's Cupcakery so much I want to make love to them.

 

So I thought it would be wonderful to make my own Red Velvet Cake and/or cupcakes from home! I tried to use a box of this stuff because I really didn't feel like putting all the extra effort in to make a cake from scratch and the results were dissapointing. Why? Because Red Velvet cake shouldn't taste like Chocolate Cake with red dye, it should taste velvety and buttermilky with just a hint of chocolate like, well, Red Velvet cake is supposed to.

 

Duncan Hines: Ruining Red Velvet Cake since 1952

 

So it was back to the drawing board and I didn't want to make a Red Velvet cake from scratch and spend hours mixing and baking unless I thought it would be lovely so I found this recipe by PW that seemed legit!

 

So here we go!

 

Ingredients

 

1 cup Shortening:

1-3/4 cup Sugar

2-1/2 cups Cake Flour

1-1/4 teaspoon Salt

2 whole Eggs

1 cup Buttermilk

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1-1/2 teaspoon Vinegar

1 ounce, fluid Red Food Coloring (The original recipe called for 1.5 ounces but I didn't feel like buying 2 bottles so I figured 1 ounce would do.)

1-1/2 teaspoon Cocoa Powder

 

I took my hiney to FoodMaxx and bought all the ingredients I needed. I bought shortening with every ounce of doubt in my soul because I have never baked with shortening before and I was es-scared.

 

I got a "work" bridal shower gift baking set from one of my old coworkers Anne before I got married. Anne is simply a doll and while all my other coworkers threw me a raunchy Bridal Shower at Chevy's with sexy lingerie Anne showed up with a baking pan set, I appreciated that :) Because as the good Lord and my Husband know, I don't really do Lingerie well except for my wedding ni---- Okay enough. You get the point. Baking though? Oh yes I definitely do bake!!!

 

Back to the recipe. Focus Melissa! FOCUS! I decided to use a large rectangular baking pan. At first I thought I could use my cupcake pan but I wanted to eat a slice of cake. So I chose a rectangular pan!

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly spray a large (18 x 12) sheet cake pan or a large rectangular baking pan with nonstick baking spray. Be sure to get in all the corners of the pan.

 

Sift together cake flour and salt. Set aside.

 

In a separate bowl, stir together buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and baking soda. Add vinegar and stir. Set aside.

 

In a separate small bowl, mix together cocoa and red food coloring. Set aside.

 

Cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk/egg mixture until all combined. Pour the red mixture in and beat until combined.

 

Pour batter into prepared sheet cake pan. Use a large offset spatula or knife to even out the surface.

 

Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean after inserting in the cake

 

Remove pan from oven and allow cake to cool in the pan for 25 minutes before frosting. Place a large cutting board on top of the cake pan, then invert the cake, allowing it to turn out onto the cutting board. Allow cake to cool completely before icing.

Here's a close up of the end result:

 

Hello Beautiful

The cake was so delicious, moist, spongy but not too spongy. It really was super velvety and I loved the bright red color. I was right when I made the call to only use one small bottle of red food coloring. The extra half ounce wasn't necessary. It was heaven. Here was my mistake, I used a container of this crap and it overpowered the delicate flavor of the cake.

 

The cake frosting of Lucifer

 

Never again. Don't do what I did, make your own frosting. Here's the link for really good frosting recipe. I think it would have made all the difference in the world!

 

I will definitely be making this recipe again! And now that I had to buy a thing of this stuff (and I have Cake Flour just chilling at home), there's a strong possibilty I will be searching for really good made from scratch Chocolate cake recipes in the near furture.

 

Or maybe brownies made from scratch are in order... That would be a first for me :)

 

See you next time!

~Mely