posted by Archana on Baking, Cake, Comfort Food, Dessert

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Isn’t she loooovely? Isn’t she wonderful?

Stevie Wonder may have been singing about a lady in his life, but I’m singing about this red velvet cake I made for my friends’ joint birthdays last week. It was my first time making a two-layer cake from scratch and even though the icing job isn’t super clean (my apartment is so hot and the frosting got droopy, mmk?), but I’m pretty proud of myself nonetheless.

To make this traditionally Southern treat, I modified a recipe from Bon Appetit magazine. They used berries, which I eliminated for simplicity’s sake, but I’d love to incorporate some fruit into the cake next time, perhaps when the weather’s warmer.

I highly recommend the recipe if you’re a red velvet fan. It’s fairly simple, but just try to recruit some friends to help you finish it because it’s pretty large. Doubt that’ll be too hard though!

(I was way too entranced and focused with making this cake to take pictures of the steps along the way, so apologies for that. I promise to include some on my next go!)

What to get (for cake):

• 2¼ cups sifted cake flour (Don’t have cake flour like me? Try this conversion: 1 cup cake flour = 1 cup all-purpose flour – 2 tbsp all-purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch)
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tbsp red food coloring
• 1 tsp distilled white vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1½ cups sugar
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs

What to get (for frosting):

• 2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1½-inch-high sides.

2. Sift sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl.

3. Whisk buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla in small bowl to blend.

4. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions.

5. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 27 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks; cool completely.

6. While cake is baking and cooling, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until smooth.

7. Beat in vanilla. Then add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

8. Place 1 cake layer, flat side up, on platter. Spread 1 cup frosting over top of cake. Top with second cake layer, flat side down. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake.

(Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.)

Serves 12