Sunday Best

 

 

Southern Red Velvet

My sister comes home this week from a semester abroad in South Africa. She is so adventurous! I'm making this occasion extra special with her favorite cake, Red Velvet. I used this recipe for the delicious filling, but frosted the cake with the classic cream cheese frosting.

The Cake (batter divided among 4 separate 8 in. cake pans)

2 3/4 cups cake flour

1/2 cup unsweetend cocoa powder

1 tbsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

 3 tbsp red food coloring

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

 1. Preheat oven to 350. Whisk flour and the next 4 ingredients together and set aside in bowl. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar until blended and fluffy.

2. Add eggs 1 at a time. Add food coloring and vanilla ON LOW SPEED so the red doesn't splatter everywhere on your expensive kitchen chairs (oops).

3.  On low speed, alternate between flour mixture and buttermilk (start and end with flour mixture). Divide batter evenly among cake pans-I always weigh each pan with the right amount of batter to ensure each layer is the same size.

4. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate, then bake for another 12 minutes. Let cool completly then remove from pans to cool on wire rack. When completly cooled, assemble layers with coconut filling. I use an ice cream scoop (about 3 scoops for each layer). Freeze at this point (wrap in plastic wrap) then allow to thaw and frost when you are almost ready to serve.

 The Frosting

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted Butter, softened

3 bars (8 0z. each) of Cream Cheese, Softened

3 cups 10x Sugar

2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

In stand mixer paddle butter and cream cheese until completly blended and smooth. Add powdered sugar, then vanilla, careful not to overmix at this point.

Special tip:

Freezing cake ahead of time before frosting and serving ensures you will have a more tender, moist crumb. Also, it will be much easier to decorate a cake pulled from the freezer than one you just assembled. So if possible, bake your cake layers, let cool, and after assembling layers with filling, wrap tightly in plastic and freeze at least overnight or up to 1 month.

•