Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Red's Red Velvet Cake, Part Two

Ok, I'm finally posting about the red velvet cake. 

Ok, here she is.  In case you haven't read a previous post, I embarked on a journey of which I had never before tread, baking red velvet cake.  I used Paula Deen's recipe from the Food Network website (see below).  For frosting I used a fluffy white frosting because Red doesn't 'know how he feels about using cream cheese in cooking'.  Direct quote.  By the way, in true insomniac form, this cake was made at 2:30 am.

The recipe was easy to follow.  I hit a few snags along the way:
1.  The recipe called for three 8" layers, I only had two 9" cake pans. 
2.  Our local grocery store carried neither the buttermilk or liquid food dye (only the gel)
3.  Even though I greased and floured the NONSTICK pans, the cake stuck.  I wish I had used parchment paper in the bottom of the pans.
4.  On the way to the inlaws' house, someone was taking curves a little too fast and the layers slid a little bit. D'oh.

Solutions:
1.  I did use the 9" pans, and just kept an eye on the baking time.
2.  Buttermilk can be made at home by mixing 1 cup of whole milk with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and allowing it to sit for ten minutes before use.  The gel dye did not color the cake as dark red as I would have liked.  Oh well, pink velvet cake tastes the same.
3.  It just took a lot of banging on the counter to get the cake out.
4.  Drive slower.

Reviews:
I thought the cake tasted delish.  I did get compliments on it (but not really sure if it was out of politeness, however, none got thrown away).  It did come out a little dense, but red velvet cake is supposed to.  The frosting I used came out beautifully.  It was incredibly shiny and tasted like marshmallows.  I thought that the consistency of the frosting did not pair well with such a dense cake.  I think next time I make the cake, I may try a different recipe just to see if it comes out different.  I have provided links below for the recipes that I used.


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