A Delectable Red Velvet Cake Recipe

Below is my recipe for a delicious tasting red velvet cake with a sinfully creamy cream cheese frosting. This cake will not only be a treat for your taste buds but it is also visually stimulating by the contrast of the red cake with the white cream cheese frosting.   This is a perfect cake to serve to guests when you want to impress.

Ingredients For Cake:

3 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoon of cocoa
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of red food coloring
1 cup of buttermilk

Ingredients for Cream Cheese frosting: 

1 cup of butter
2 (8-ounce) packages of cream cheese
4 cups of confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

Directions:

Before you begin you will want to preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Take a mixing bowl and sift in the flour, and then add the baking soda, salt and coco together. Give a quick whisk with a whisk. In another bowl mix together the butter, oil, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer. Mix until it becomes creamy. You will then want to add the eggs to the mixture. Add one egg at a time into the bowl and beat until well combined. Next add the red wine vinegar and food coloring and continue to mix until all of the ingredients have come together.

You will then want to add in the flour and buttermilk to the mixture. This will create the batter for the cake. You do not want to add all of the flour or all of the milk into the mixture at once. Add about one cup of flour into the mixture and then follow it with about a third of a cup of milk. Repeating back and forth until all of the milk and all of the flour has been added into the mixture and you have a nice batter. According to test kitchen, the reason for alternating the flour and the milk is so that you do not “shock” the air bubbles out of your cake batter by throwing in a lot of flour or by splashing in a lot of milk into the better all at once. By adding those ingredients in a little at a time it keeps the air bubbles in the batter, which you need for a light cake.

Now, pour the batter into three 9-inch cake pans that have been greased and floured. Give them a little tap on the table surface to level out the batter and release a few of the air bubbles. You will want to bake your cake layers at 350 degrees F. for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out nice and clean.  Do not over bake your cake or your cake will be dry.

Once the cake layers have baked you will now want to place them on a wire rack and let them cool before you remove the cake layers from the pan. I suggest letting them cool for 15 or 20 minutes.  When your cake layers are fully cooled you will want to make your frosting. Before doing so please make certain that the cream cheese and butter have softened to room temperature. You will want to place the butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl and then mix them together with an electric mixer. Then add the sugar and beat on high until it becomes smooth, fluffy and creamy. Next add the lemon juice and the almond extract and continue mixing until they are incorporated into the mix. Do not over beat the frosting or it will not be as fluffy as you want.

You are now ready to assemble your cake. Place the first layer on a cake stand and then frost the top of that layer. Place the second layer on top of the first and then frost that layer as well. You then want to place the last layer on top and frost the top of that layer as well. Make certain you frost this last layer so that the cake has a nice appearance. You will then want to finish frosting the cake by frosting the sides. Your cake is now done and is ready to serve. enjoy