red velvet cake Recipe

red velvet cake

Servs: 12 Prep: 120m Cook: 30m

Ingredients

Cake:
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup red food coloring (more or less)
1/2 cup shortening
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk at room temperature
2-1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 pecans
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips for grating on top of layers
Crumb Coat:
Dark chocolate frosting (I cheat here and use a ready made)
Frosting:
1 cup milk
5 tablespoons flour
1 cup softened butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix cocoa, half the red food color, butter flavoring and almond extract in separate bowl and stir. This will not mix very well initially. Come back in a few minutes and it should blend easily. The color should be a lovely ruby color, feel free to add the remaining red food color a quarter teaspoon at a time. When you like the color, stop!

Cream shortening and sugar until fluffy.

Add cocoa mixture to shortening mixture and blend well to remove any light color.

Add salt.

Add eggs one at a time and beat one for minute or until fully incorporated.

Place the vanilla in the buttermilk and add slowly to the creamed mixture alternating with the flour. Scrape sides and bottom of mixing bowl often. Mix very well - everything should be red - no white showing!

Place vinegar and soda in separate small bowl, stir quickly and add that to the cake batter. Mix quickly and well.

Pour batter into prepared cake pans.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

Cool in pans on wire racks. Loosen cake from sides of pans and placing wire rack on top of pan, flip over. Gently remove pans and continue to cool. Once the layers are completely cooled wrap each layer separately in wax paper, then foil. The double wrap will help retain moisture. Store in refrigerator for up to two days. I call this the aging process.

Before frosting, remove wax paper and foil from layers and let come to room temperature.

Frosting - cook milk and flour over a low flame until thick and pasty. Cool completely in refrigerator.

While the frosting base is cooling, prepare the crumb coat, which I highly recommend to keep the frosting white. I use a rich dark chocolate frosting (enhances the chocolate flavor of the cake) thinned with a small amount of water. Separately place one layer upside down and one layer right side up. Spread a very thin layer of frosting on each layer and let dry.

Place the pecans on a sheet of wax paper and drizzle some of the thinned chocolate frosting over each and let dry.

After the crumb coat has dried and the frosting base has cooled, it is time to prepare the frosting.

Beat butter, powdered sugar and vanilla with electric mixer until well blended.

Add the cooled flour mixture to the butter and sugar a little at a time while beating. This is a fairly soft frosting and will not form deep peaks as a buttercream.

Place the bottom layer on the serving plate and spread frosting on top portion only and build up edges slightly. This build up will provide a better seal with top layer.Grate semi-sweet chocolate evenly over top.

Gently place top layer on bottom layer. Frost sides, then top. Grate semi-sweet chocolate over top of cake and place pecans along top edge.

Store cake in refrigerator until ready to serve.