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.
