Making Red Velvet Cake - Notions & Notations of a Novice Cook

Making Red Velvet Cake

Here’s the classic Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate Frosting to kick off what would hopefully be a string of posts for Valentine’s day dessert ideas. To be honest, I was inspired to make this because I remembered that badass Dr. Yang chose it for her wedding cake. I wanted to do it justice and have the colour just right. Nowadays the RVC has been tainted with one tablespoon too many red food colouring that it almost looks toxic. I mean come on; you want an alluring, luscious shade of red. Not that of a firetruck’s. This is a very decadent cake; with silky vanilla buttercream filling and smooth dark chocolate frosting. Definitely one that guarantees a very,very good end to the evening.

Now you’ll have to pardon the rather bad quality of the step by step images because a cousin of mine borrowed my camera and promised that he’d bring it back today, only that he didn’t. Well he did, but he brought it over at 7 PM. By then it’s pretty much useless. I couldn’t bring myself to take a picture of it with the camera phone so I had to take the picture of the cake the next day to do it justice.

Don’t be intimidated by the seemingly long recipe. I took it from Martha Stewart’s website. Just follow through and you’ll be rewarded. You can make these as individual cupcakes, or as one big cake. I used a square baking tin and cut out circles to make individual sized cakes.

And no, this is not under 300 cals.

Red Velvet Cake:

[1/3 cup cocoa + 3 tablespoon red food coloring + 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract + 1/2 cup butter, softened + 1 1/2 cup sugar + 4 egg yolks + 1 cup buttermilk + 1 teaspoon salt + 2 1/4 cup sifted cake flour + 1 teaspoon baking soda + 1 teaspoon white vinegar]

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 standard 12-cup cupcake tins or a square baking tin with baking papers and set aside.

Mix the cocoa, food coloring, and vanilla together in a small bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl, using a mixer set on medium-high speed. Add the yolks and beat for 1 more minute.

Add the cocoa mixture and beat to combine. Stir the buttermilk and salt together and add it in thirds, alternating with the flour.

Mix the baking soda with the vinegar and blend into the batter.

Fill each cupcake tin with 3 tablespoons batter, or pour the batter into the square baking tin and bake until a toothpick inserted in the cupcake center tests clean — about 15-20 minutes

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

[ 3 cups confectioner’s sugar + 1 cup butter + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract + 1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream ]

In a mixer, mix together sugar and softened butter. Mix on medium speed until well blended and then increase to high and beat for another 3 minutes. Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 more minute, adding more cream if needed, to reach spreading consistency. Use to spread on the cupcake or to sandwich the cake layers.

Cooked Chocolate Frosting

[ 240ml milk + 3 tablespoons flour + 1/8 teaspoon salt + 8 ounce dark chocolate + 240g butter + 360g confectioner’s sugar + 2 tablespoon cocoa + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ]

Whisk milk, flour and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken and bubble. Set aside to cool.

Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool.

Beat the butter, sugar and cocoa powder until light and fluffy. Beat in the cooled chocolate, milk mixture and vanilla until smooth and fluffy. Use to cover the entire cake.You’d do a much neater job of this than I did, I’m sure.