(Red) Velvet Goldmine

I'm very VERY pumped for my first post here! If you're reading this, it means YOU ROCK! I don't want to gush, so instead of crying like an Oscar winner, I'm going to get on with the show!

My roommates and I are fairly health conscious. We eat our veggies, we choose lean ground beef when it comes to burgers, and we only indulge in REAL dessert every now and again.

A few weeks ago my roommate Rebekah turned 21, she knew exactly what special treat she wanted to celebrate with... A two tiered red velvet cake, smothered in cream cheese icing and topped with toasted coconut. As the resident baker, the idea of the insanely decadent cake made me giddy.

I settled on the recipe but soon found red velvet has a will of it's own. When I ran out of a key ingredient (OIL!) I had to substitute. My hands got stained with the food colouring. In the midst of the cake batter battlefield (say that 10x fast!), I burned my thumb on the corner of the pan. You know what? It was totally worth it.


Red Velvet Cake avec Cream Cheese Frosting
(Adapted from A Farmgirl's Dabbles)

Cake:
2 1/2 cups cake flour, plus more for pan dusting
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups melted butter (in microwave or on the stove top)
2 eggs (room temperature, if you can)
4 tbsp. red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp white vinegar

Frosting:
16 oz. (two bricks) light cream cheese, at room temperature
1 c. butter, at room temperature
4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

•Preheat oven to 350°. Butter two 9″ x 2″ round cake pans. Dust with flour, tap away extra, set aside.
•In a medium bowl, whisk together cake flour, salt, and cocoa.

•In a separate larger bowl beat sugar and melted butter on medium speed until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. •Add food colouring and vanilla then beat until combined. Add the flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

•In a small bowl, whisk together baking soda and vinegar. Enjoy the chemical reaction, and remember the one time you saw it at a science fair as a kid. Then add it to the batter, and beat for 10 seconds.

•Divide the batter between the two prepped cake pans. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes.
•Transfer to a wire rack to cool in the pans for 5 minutes. Remove from the pans, and return to the rack, top side up, to cool completely.

Frosting:
•Cream together cream cheese and butter on medium high until combined. Beat in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until fluffy. Add in the vanilla. Sample for quality control, MMM.

•Spread 1 1/2 cups of frosting on top of one of the cake layers. Place second layer on top and smother. SMOTHER WITH ABANDON.

• DEVOUR! Or you can store the cake, covered in the fridge...

We ended up having it for dessert every night for an entire week, so it keeps very well. Take it out about 10-15 minutes prior to serving to take the chill off. Yummmm!