Red Velvet Cake

I found this recipe on a blog called Apple a Day last spring, she adapted it from www.saveur.com.

It will make one 8 inch 3 layer cake. Or three 8 inch 1 layer cakes. You do what you think is best... ooohhhhh my kids hate it when I say that. What is it about the responsibility of having to make a decision for yourself???

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cake:
2½ cups cake flour 1½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs
1½ cups vegetable oil 1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons (1 oz.) red food coloring 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

For the frosting:
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
12 ounces butter, softened
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1½ cups chopped pecans (optional)

1. For the cake: Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt into a medium bowl.

3. Beat eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

4. Divide batter evenly between 3 greased and floured 8″ round cake pans.

5. Bake cakes, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Let cakes cool 5 minutes, then invert each onto a plate, then invert again onto a cooling rack. Let cakes cool completely.

6. For the frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Add sugar and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes.

4. Put 1 cake layer on a cake plate, level off with a serrated knife, and spread one-quarter of the frosting on top. Set another layer on top, level, and repeat frosting. Set remaining layer on top, level, and frost top and sides with the remaining frosting. Press pecans into the sides of the cake, if desired. **Tip: after leveling cake, turn it upside down to reduce numbers of crumbs. I also did a crumb coat on the outside, let it set for ten minutes, then finished with remaining frosting. (from Jenny: I don't use the pecans or level off with a knife or bother with a crumb coat.)

5. Chill for 2 hours to set frosting. ~if you can wait that long to dig in.

Mike made this taste temptation for my birthday last spring. It was magical. Smooth. Rich. Delightful.

His friends at work remember things like that so when they decided to have a potluck for Veterans Day they requested he make Red Velvet Cake. So today I made it for him to take. What's the good of being a full time homemaker if you can't make yummy treats for your man to take to work?

What surprised me the most is that he asked me to put it on the glass cake pedestal! Fancy man that Mike.