Red Velvet Birthday Cake

I made this red velvet birthday present cake for a friend's birthday, but also as a test run for a wedding cake that I will be making later this year. I made one batch of the batter for each layer of the cake (essentially tripling the recipe) and it worked out beautifully! 

This cake turned out delicious! The crumb was perfect and it had a wonderful, rich, moist flavor! The cream cheese icing didn't hurt either. It was so good!

Since it was a birthday cake, I decided to decorate it with some fondant to make it look like present!

---

Red Velvet Cake 

Note: To make a 3 layer 10 inch square cake I tripled this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup FLOUR
• 1/2 tsp BAKING SODA
• 1/2 tsp BAKING POWDER
• 1/2 tsp SALT
• 2 Tbs COCOA POWDER
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbs CANOLA OIL
• 1 cup SUGAR
• 1 EGG, large
• 1/2 cup BUTTERMILK, room temperature
• 1 tsp VANILLA
• 2/3 tsp RED FOOD COLORING PASTE or 1 oz. RED FOOD COLORING
• 1 tsp WHITE VINEGAR
• 1/4 cup BREWED HOT COFFEE

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 320 degrees F.
2. Mix the oil, sugar, and egg using an electric mixer. 
3. Add the buttermilk, vanilla, and food coloring. Mix until everything is well combined.
4. Mix in the vinegar and coffee. 
5. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 
6. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in the bowl of the electric mixer. 
7. Once all of the ingredients are well combined, divide the batter equally into greased and floured cake pans. 
8. Bake the cakes for 20 to 25 minutes.

---

Cream Cheese Icing

NOTE: You will need to double this recipe if you make the full sized cake!

Ingredients:

• 1 sticks BUTTER, softened
• 3 & 3/4 cups POWDERED SUGAR, sifted
• 1 (8 oz.) package of CREAM CHEESE, sifted
• 2 tsp VANILLA EXTRACT

Directions:

1. Using an electric mixer cream the butter and cream cheese together using the paddle attachment. 
2. Once the mixture is smooth, turn the mixer down to a low speed and start adding the powdered sugar. 
3. After all of the powdered sugar has been mixed in, add the vanilla. 
4. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and continue mixing for about 3 minutes to make sure everything if fully incorporated. 

---

I found this red velvet cake on this website: http://vintagetrinkets.blogspot.sg/2013/08/red-velvet-cake-with-vanilla-cream.html

Fluffy Yellow Cake

This vanilla cake is fluffy and moist and delicious! I'm not sure if it's dense enough to support a wedding cake, but it is perfect on it's own!

To make a 2 layer 9 inch cake you will need: 

• 2 cups SUGAR
• 2 sticks BUTTER, room temperature
• 2 LARGE EGGS, separated, room temperature
• 1 Tbs VANILLA EXTRACT
• 2 cup CAKE FLOUR
• 1 Tbs BAKING POWDER
• 1 tsp SALT
• 1 cup BUTTERMILK, room temperature

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (330 degrees F Accokeek). Use the paddle attachment on a stand mixer to cream together the sugar and butter for 2 minutes. Add the egg yolks one at a time.

Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt.

Measure out the milk and the vanilla in a measuring cup. Alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients at a medium speed starting and ending with the dry ingredients.

Beat the egg whites until they are thick and foamy.

Gently fold the egg whites into the batter with a spatula.

Divide the batter evenly between two 9 inch cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

This batter measures about 6 cups in volume.

Cupcakes didn't work out too well...

---

Fluffy Yellow Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups SUGAR
• 2 sticks BUTTER, room temperature
• 2 LARGE EGGS, separated, room temperature
• 1 Tbs VANILLA EXTRACT
• 2 cup CAKE FLOUR
• 1 Tbs BAKING POWDER
• 1 tsp SALT
• 1 cup BUTTERMILK, room temperature

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. (330 degrees F Accokeek)
2. Use the paddle attachment on a stand mixer to cream together the sugar and butter for 2 minutes.
3. Add the egg yolks one at a time. 
4. Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Measure out the milk and the vanilla in a measuring cup.
6. Alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients at a medium speed starting and ending with the dry ingredients. 
7. Beat the egg whites until they are thick and foamy.
8. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter with a spatula.
9. Divide the batter evenly between two 9 inch cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes. 

---

I found this recipe on the following website: http://divascancook.com/moist-yellow-cake-recipe-old-fashioned/

Red Velvet Cake Taste Test!

So last week I decided to have a little red velvet taste testing session. I compared three cake recipes and two icing recipes. This is what it did to my kitchen... and I cleaned as I went! :/

One thing you definitely need with red velvet cake is plenty of red food coloring!

The batters all turned out so pretty and bright!

Ok, now to the point. The comparison! I cut three different recipe by four so I didn't have bazillions of cupcakes. 

                                          Batter #1:                                 Batter 2:

Batter 3:

And here is how they cooked up!

Ok, now onto the icings!

The first one I tried was a flour icing and can be seen below....and I uhhh...didn't make it right and it was uhhh...pretty bad. I'll have to try that one again sometime and see if it turns out better...

Next I made a vanilla icing with a vegetable shortening base and it was delicious! Definitely a keeper! Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the recipe!

Cupcake #1:

Cupcake #2:

Cupcake #3:

After they were all iced, it was time for the taste test! The best part!

After tasting all of them this is what I decided:

Cupcake 1: Very moist! Maybe too moist for a cupcake because it was hard to get out of the paper, but would be perfect for a cake. Also had great flavor! It didn't fluff up very much though.

Cupcake 2: A little dry. Easy to get out of the paper. Didn't rise very much. Overall, not great...

Cupcake 3: Beautiful, rose nicely. Came out of the paper easily.  Great texture. (And just so happen to be my mom's recipe! I guess mother really does know best!) Could use a little bit of a flavor boost compared to cupcake 1 though...sorry mom!

What I decided was that I basically want to cross the 1st and 3rd cupcake to get the flavor and moistness of the 1st, but the texture and looks from the 3rd. I also decided that chocolate cake is better than red velvet cake. Sorry, I know this is supposed to be about red velvet cake, but I like my chocolate cake better!

Ok, so for a delicious RED VELVET CAKE follow this recipe! (I will post a cupcake recipe once I play with combining the 1st and 3rd recipes) To make a fabulous, moist, flavorful two layer, 5 inch, round cake you will need (to make a 2 layer, 9 inch, round cake just double this recipe!):

• 1 cup FLOUR
• 1/2 tsp BAKING SODA
• 1/2 tsp BAKING POWDER
• 1/2 tsp SALT
• 1 Tbs COCOA POWDER
• 1/2 cup CANOLA OIL
• 1 cup SUGAR
• 1 EGG, large
• 1/2 cup BUTTERMILK, room temperature
• 1 tsp VANILLA
• 1 tsp RED FOOD COLORING PASTE
• 1 tsp WHITE VINEGAR
• 1/4 cup BREWED HOT COFFEE

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 320 degrees F.
2. Mix the oil, sugar, and egg using an electric mixer. 
3. Add the buttermilk, vanilla, and food coloring. Mix until everything is well combined.
4. Mix in the vinegar and coffee. 
5. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 
6. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in the bowl of the electric mixer. 
7. Once all of the ingredients are well combined, divide the batter equally into greased and floured cake pans. 
8. Bake the cakes for 20 to 25 minutes.

To make the delicious VANILLA ICING you will need:

• 2 cup SHORTENING 
• 8 cup POWDERED SUGAR
• 0.5 tsp SALT
• 2 tsp VANILLA
• 6 oz. HEAVY CREAM

Directions:

1. Cream the shortening until it is fluffy using an electric mixer. 
2. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar. 
3. Add the salt, vanilla, and cream. Mix until well combined. 
4. If it is too thick add more cream, if it is too thin add more powdered sugar.

---

Red Velvet Cake 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup FLOUR
• 1/2 tsp BAKING SODA
• 1/2 tsp BAKING POWDER
• 1/2 tsp SALT
• 1 Tbs COCOA POWDER
• 1/2 cup CANOLA OIL
• 1 cup SUGAR
• 1 EGG, large
• 1/2 cup BUTTERMILK, room temperature
• 1 tsp VANILLA
• 1 tsp RED FOOD COLORING PASTE
• 1 tsp WHITE VINEGAR
• 1/4 cup BREWED HOT COFFEE

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 320 degrees F.
2. Mix the oil, sugar, and egg using an electric mixer. 
3. Add the buttermilk, vanilla, and food coloring. Mix until everything is well combined.
4. Mix in the vinegar and coffee. 
5. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 
6. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in the bowl of the electric mixer. 
7. Once all of the ingredients are well combined, divide the batter equally into greased and floured cake pans. 
8. Bake the cakes for 20 to 25 minutes.

---

Vanilla Icing

Ingredients:

• 2 cup SHORTENING 
• 8 cup POWDERED SUGAR
• 0.5 tsp SALT
• 2 tsp VANILLA
• 6 oz. HEAVY CREAM

Directions:

1. Cream the shortening in an electric mixer until it is fluffy. 
2. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar. 
3. Add the salt, vanilla, and cream. Mix until well combined. 
4. If it is too thick add more cream, if it is too thin add more powdered sugar.

---

I found this red velvet cake on this website: http://vintagetrinkets.blogspot.sg/2013/08/red-velvet-cake-with-vanilla-cream.html