Sunday, January 29, 2012

Red velvet cake

For the cake
  • 125g butter
  • 300g caster sugar
  • 3 small eggs or 2 large
  • 300g plain flour
  • 230ml milk with a squeeze of lemon juice/vinegar (or just if you have butter milk use it)
  • 1tsp salt
  • 2tsp vanilla
  • 30g cocoa powder (sieved)
  • 3tsp red food colouring
  • 1tsp bread soda
For the frosting
  • 160g soft butter
  • 140g icing sugar (sieved)
  • 400g cream cheese
  • 2tsp vanilla
Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. add the eggs, then alternate the dry ingredients with the wet ones. Divide between 2 round lined and grease baking sheets (I use the silicone ones, put just a roughly ripped piece of greaseproof paper on the bottom and brush with oil), spread the filling out evenly and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25-30mins. Cool on wire racks.

For the icing beat the butter and sugar together then add the other ingredients. You can just sandwich the rounds and spread with icing but I cut them in half to make 4 rounds and sandwiched these together with icing to make a prettier effect, then spread the whole lot with the remaining icing and sprinkled some decorations on top.

I took a photo as soon as I could but it was disappearing fast hence the small bit in the pic.

I am a bit dubious about the whole sifting things to get air in. I think the main purpose of sifting dry ingredients together is to mix them so providing you mix them together well you don't have to run out and buy a sieve. However cocoa powder and icing sugar tend to clump so I sieve them to ensure there are no lumps.

Oh and one more thing, a lot of recipes I see for red velvet something seem to end in the reader having to mix vinegar with baking soda. I do not understand this at all. All you have afterward is some sodium acetate (a seasoning) and carbon dioxide which is now gone and has done nothing for your baking. I get the whole carbon dioxide as a raising agent (hence the acidic buttermilk and the bread soda in the recipe) but they are not supposed to react before you even add them. So I ignore this step and the recipes have always worked.

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