Red Velvet Cake.

So I'm back from my trip and I was all excited to start cooking but then two awesome things happened:

1) My camera broke at the airport.
2) I've got some serious strain of the flu.

So instead of a post about Vietnamese food with pictures where the lighting is perfect and such, I'm going to post an entry of something I made a while ago for Christmas.


I attempted to make Red velvet cake, and it was a pretty successful turn out!

 
For the cake recipe, I tweeked and mixed ingredients and amounts from various Red Velvet Cake recipes that I saw while browsing.

Red Velvet Cake:

1 C dark brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
3/4 Cup butter (room temperature of course)
2 eggs
2 C cake flour
1/4 C cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 C buttermilk
3-4 tbsp red food coloring (I used liquid not gel)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp white vinegar

* I added a bit more cocoa powder than traditional but I think it added more flavor.

Directions:

- Cream the butter until fluffy, add in both sugars and mix until incorporated.
- Beat in 1 egg at a time.
- Mix together the dry ingredients in one bowl (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt)
- Mix together wet ingredients in a different bowl (buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar)
- Add parts of the dry mixture into the butter/egg mixture, mix, then add parts of the wet mixture into the butter/egg mixture, mix, alternate until all the ingredients are incorporated.
- Pour the mixture into two 9 inch cake pans (oiled/buttered/lined with parchment paper, whichever you fancy)
- Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes depending on oven.
- Allow to cool on cake wrack before icing!

Icing:

2 sticks of Cream Cheese (no reduced fat!)
2 sticks of unsalted butter
3-4 C confectioners sugar (to taste)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Cream the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy then mix in sugar 1 C at a time until desired taste and texture is reached. Then mix in the vanilla extract.

*Next time, I am going to try 3 sticks cream cheese and 1 stick of butter, since I feel the icing tasted too buttery and I'm curious to see what will happen if I use more cream cheese.

Yummy!