Red Velvet Cake Recipe .. Celebrating Cheesecakeforall first anniversary

When cheesecakeforall dot com blog idea first came out, I didn’t think I would write its first anniversary post that soon .. It seems as if it was yesterday! At that time, I didn’t have the appropriate equipments to picture good quality photos or present dishes professionally. I’m not saying that I reached the professionals level, however, when I compare my old posts with the newly posted ones, I see the difference. I also didn’t have my own DSLR camera, nor the rest of it’s gadgets (tripod, flash, etc.). When I started this blog I was a good main curses cook, but I was very weak in baking breads, cakes and making sweets from scratch like marshmallows.

Since the first words I’ve written I knew that I’m doing the right thing .. I knew that I’m blessed .. and I knew that each time I see my blog grows I will feel happy, proud, and willing to do and give more! Actually, that what I’m feeling right now!

What I like most about what I’m blogging about is, the new stuff I learn each and every day, this amount of knowledge adds richness to my personalty. It is a multi focused blog, which merges cooking with photography and writing. And since English is my second language, this is really challenging thing to do!

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from pinchmysalt.com .. and let me tell you this, the steps are crystal clear and easy to follow! I’m changing the presentation of ingredients and steps. What am going to do is this, I will list the needed ingredients into two ways. First as a shopping list. And the second time just beside the step where the ingredients will be used in. I think this will make the whole recipe easier to follow. I also need your feedback, and what do you think about this change in presenting recipe steps. It is essential at this time to know if I should continue with this method or go back to the older one.

Shopping list

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour*, more for flouring the cake pans

1 teaspoon baking powder, more for the cream cheese frosting

1 teaspoon salt

2 oz. red food coloring

1 cup unsalted butter (two sticks), at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (one spoon for the cake and the other for the frosting)

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

16 oz. cream cheese (2 packages), softened

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Red Velvet Cake

1 tablespoon flour 1 tablespoon butter	Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour* 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt	Sift cake flour once before measuring, then sift again with the other dry ingredients. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.
2 oz. red food coloring 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder (unsweetened)	In a small bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps; set aside.
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 eggs, at room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla extract	In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go.
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature	Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.
1 teaspoon white vinegar 1 teaspoon baking soda	Make sure you have cake pans buttered, floured, and nearby. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. It will fizz, this is normal, add it to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Quickly, divide batter evenly between the cake pans and place them in the preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check regularly, cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cream Cheese icing (recipe below)	Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. To remove the cakes from the pan, place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, then gently lift the pan. Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting. Frost with buttercream or cream cheese icing.

Recipe Notes: *If you don’t have cake flour don’t worry, I faced the same problem and what I came to know is this, you can substitute cake flour with all purpose flour. The general rule is this 1 cup of all purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons (1c – 2tbsp) is equivalent to 1 cup of cake flour. You can wear an apron to prevent the red food coloring from coloring your hand. As you’re mixing the cake batter, use a spatula to scrape down the bowl frequently throughout the entire process.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz. cream cheese (2 packages), softened 1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick), softened	With an electric mixer, blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted pinch of salt	Turn mixer to low speed and blend in powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy. Use immediately or refrigerate, covered, until ready to use. If refrigerated, the frosting will need to be brought to room temperature before using (after frosting softens up, beat with mixer until smooth).

Recipe Notes: The amount of cream cheese frosting is prefect. It will cover the whole cake without keeping and hint on what is inside. If you prefer a sweeter and/or stiffer frosting, add more powdered sugar (up to four cups). However, the more sugar you add, the less you’ll be able to taste the cream cheese!

enjoy with love,

Maryam

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Tagged as: baking, cream cheese, velvet