Recipe: Red Velvet Cake*

A couple of weeks ago I commented how there are some recipes you make over and over because everyone likes them and they turn out consistently well.  My recipe for Red Velvet Cake is one of those.  The last few years this cake has make a come-back in popularity with the general public and there are lots of versions out there.  This recipe is the classic style with the cooked frosting, not the cream cheese variety most bakeries mostly use today.  This unique frosting is my favorite part of the cake--I love the old fashioned, original recipe, which instructs that you leave the sides bare of frosting to show how pretty it is even before cutting. 

This is an oft-requested birthday cake at our house.  Years ago, when my second daughter was barely three, I made one for my mother’s birthday and invited her and Dad to dinner.  While we were chatting, I turned to see my little girl toddling proudly towards us with my beautiful cake on a heavy glass platter which she had somehow successfully removed from the fridge.  Before any of us could say a word, she proceeded to lose her grip on the whole confection and we watched in horror as it slid off the plate and onto the floor at her Grandma’s feet.  She had wanted to show it off to everyone, and was heartbroken over dropping it.  The five-second rule didn’t quite apply, since we weren’t eating for a couple of hours; however, we saved the top layer and ate it anyway.  After all, who can resist Red Velvet Cake? 

½ cup butter (1 stick) at room temperature

1 ½ cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoons cocoa

2 ¼ cups flour

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ounce red food color (1 small bottle)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Mix vinegar and soda in tiny bowl or small cup and let stand.  In mixing bowl, cream together sugar and softened (not melted) butter.  Add eggs and beat.   Make a paste of cocoa and some of the red food color in tiny bowl or small cup.  Add this to the creamed mixture, using a rubber spatula to get out every last bit.  Add buttermilk alternately with flour (a little flour, then a little buttermilk, and so on).  Add the rest of the food coloring, the salt and the vanilla.  Mix well.  Add the vinegar/soda mixture last of all.  Pour into three well greased and floured 8 in round cake pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (make sure it seems done, as oven temps can vary).  Remove from pans and cool well.

Frosting

In small saucepan, whisk 3 good sized Tablespoons flour into 1 cup milk.  Cook over medium heat until thickened, whisking to keep it smooth and from sticking.  Let this cool to room temperature or place in fridge if you’re in a hurry, stirring occasionally—but only leave it there until it’s no longer warm (no more than ½ hour).  Cream 1 cup room temperature butter (2 sticks) and 1 cup sugar (regular sugar, NOT powdered) with electric mixer until very fluffy (5 minutes or so).  Add 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Add the cooled flour mixture into the butter mixture a spoonful at a time, beating well as you go so it doesn’t curdle. Beat another few minutes until it’s nice and fluffy.

Frost between layers of cake (not sides) and refrigerate.  Serve cold—The frosting will not taste the same if allowed to sit at room temperature, so cut and serve it right out of the fridge. The frosting will be firm, almost like you were cutting through a block of vanilla ice cream.

*Originally distributed April 2014