Red Velvet Cake Recipe

I am not yet over with Valentines Red Velvet. And for some reason, my family and friends aren't over it, too!

Next to Chocolate or Devil's Food Cake, the most loved cake in the house is Red Velvet Cake. After lots of attempt in achieving a perfect red tint and moist red velvet cupcakes, I was hesitant at first to try a cake version. But I started to crave for Red Velvet cake whenever I look at it on bake shop displays! I know I could make one for myself, so I made an attempt.

And it was absolutely worth it.

To make red velvet cake, you don't simply put red food coloring on a white cake. No. There must be that slight chocolate aftertaste to it, there must be a slight sourness contradicting blending with the sweet ingredients, and the texture of the crumbs must reflect that of velvet. Hence, the name Red "Velvet". 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 pcs. eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp (one 20mL bottle) red food coloring
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp baking soda

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. Sift together flour, salt, and cocoa
3. In a separate bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add the sugar and make sure to mix it until it is light and fluffy. Then, add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.
4. In a small bowl, whisk buttermilk with red food coloring.
5. Alternately add flour and buttermilk mixture to butter mixture.
6. In a small cup, combine vinegar and baking soda. Allow to fizz before folding into batter.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes. 

Makes 2 layers of 9" cake.

Recipe from Joy of Baking.

Although you can frost this cake with any type of frosting, I still recommend Cream Cheese frosting. It's not a complete red velvet cake without the cream cheese!

Devil's Food Cake | Boiled Icing Recipe

Back in early High School, my dad would regularly bring home a slice of Devil's Food Cake. We'll open that styro lunch pack and eat the slice together while sharing some random stories.  Sometimes when we go grocery shopping on Sundays, we'll pass through a kiosk selling cakes, and we'll buy a slice of - you guessed it - Devil's Food Cake. For some reason, he's in love with this cake. It came to the point where I asked "dad, why devil's food cake? Why not angel's food cake? The icing is white anyway"*.

With all these good memories with Devil's Food Cake, I decided it's the perfect cake for my dad's birthday. But not just any Devil's Food Cake - I want to recreate the one he used to buy (in terms of taste; not the entire design). As I searched for a recipe, I realized that not all Devil's Food Cake is composed of chocolate cake + white icing. Some use chocolate buttercream and make it a triple chocolate cake, while some transform it into a sophisticated cake by using chocolate ganache.

But for my dad's favorite version, it is paired with white boiled icing. It's actually a light bulb moment when I realized what that icing is! You see, back then, I had no idea with baking; so, I don't know the difference between buttercream, boiled, ganache, etc. All I knew was that it's icing!

The frosting in the cake he used to buy was very light and tasted like marshmallows - not creamy like a buttercream, or rich like a ganache. At first, I thought it might be marshmallow fluff or maybe even melted marshmallows, but it wasn't that sticky. I know I pledged in this blog that I want to share recipes that can be done without electric mixers, but I purposely borrowed one just to make this cake authentic. I don't have strong arms to constantly mix for 7 minutes!

Boiled Icing or 7-Minute Frosting
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup water
2 egg whites
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Add together sugar, cream of tartar, salt, water, and egg whites in a metal bowl, or the top of a double boiler. Beat with a handheld electric mixer for 1 minute. 
2. Place bowl or pan over boiling water. Make sure that the boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top bowl or pan.
3. Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes. 
4. Beat in vanilla.

Frosts one 2-layers 9" cake, plus more for decorating.

Recipe adapted from Food Network.

The only problem I encountered with this frosting (or maybe the recipe) is that it hardens after a while, to the point that the frosting cracks when you pierce a candle on the cake or slice through it. Nevertheless, my dad was happy to taste this cake again after a long time!

*Oh, and just in case you're also wondering why it's called Devil's Food Cake, refer to the photo above. Notice how the chocolate cake has a red tint to it? ;)

KitKat Cake | How To

The perfect pair? It's salt and pepper. Chocolate and strawberry. Pancakes and syrup. Cookies and cream. Kitkat and M&Ms. You and me. Wait, whaaaaat? (Don't try that pick-up line, folks).

But seriously, though. This is an amazingly pretty cake. C'mon, just the sight of KitKat is a show-stopper; but add M&Ms to it? Stunning. The best part here is that it's easy to assemble! To make things easier, you can just use cake mix and store bought frosting because the point of this cake is how you design it. With imagination, you can add your personal touch to make the design yours - like replacing M&Ms with your favorite candy. Tootsie Rolls, perhaps? (Hello, Nikki!)

This cake is famous on the 'net, and I just want to share with you my (3rd) attempt! Unconventional to the ones circulating around the net (chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream), the inside is Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting. It's for a 4th Birthday Party. The celebrant loved it so much, that I had to ask someone to literally restrain her from pulling KitKat and/or picking the candy in order to take a decent pic! With all those pretty colors going on, it's irresistible. And who can say no to KitKat, right?

It's as easy as 1-2-3! Here's how you can make yours, too :)

Instructions:
1. Prepare the cake. You could either make a cake from scratch, or use a boxed cake mixture. The flavor depends on your taste, but Chocolate cake is most commonly used. Be sure to prepare a frosting as well - again, either make it from scratch or buy a canned frosting. Just make sure it's creamy enough to make the KitKat stick on the cake. I've tried making a version with chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream, and another with red velvet cake and chocolate cream cheese. I prefer a chocolate frosting so it's the same color as KitKat.
2. Stick the KitKat on the cake. Start by breaking the KitKat into individual fingers. Sticking them on the cake in 2's or 4's will make you use more as it covers less surface area. If your frosting is not that creamy enough, pipe a little frosting on the back of the KitKat finger before sticking it on the cake. You may wrap a ribbon around the cake to make it stick better - or just for design!
3. Top with M&Ms or any other chocolate/candy. Some tops it with other types of chocolates like Kirkland or Ferrero. I like to decorate mine by just randomly pouring the candy on the cake; others like to be super organized and sort it by color in a circular design.

Keep in mind that you'll use a lot of KitKat and M&Ms. A lot. Seriously. That was my mistake for my first two attempts. If in case you ran out of KitKat but had no more time to run to the store, give space between the fingers so it can still cover the cake (even if it's sparse). If you're short on M&Ms and have no other candy substitute, pour the candy on the outer line and work your way in until where your candy can.

But hey, all those chocolate is worth it! I hope you'll give this a try!