I love RED (not Retired:Extremely Danger ya...). All shades of red, my eyes just love it. You can even call me Pinky Girl (since Red Girl is not that common) coz I love that shades of red even more. Pink is my wedding's color. Red is the invitation's color. My notebook's color is red. The perfect color for my lips is pink. And I'm pretty sure I'd look fabulous in a red dress+high heels (narsis.haha....)
As for food, I'm sure red can boost your appetite. Why? Well, mostly coz red presented freshness for most of fruits, sweetness and joyfulness for cakes, candies and sweets. But you also have to be aware if red occured in your steak. Maybe it's best if you call for the chef. Unless, you do like it rare :)
Speaking of red and cake, red often connected with strawberry or raspberry just like green with pandan or green tea, purple with blueberry, white with vanilla and chocolate with -of course- chocolate. And as for cake, I'm so sorry red, but I'd prefer chocolate than you :p Call me a traitor, but chocolate does have a way of giving my taste buds a pleasure :D and as for my eyes, well, red still does look very seducing.
That is why when I first heard of this wonderful cake, I know I have to give it a try. I'm not gonna lie, at first I did think strawberry or raspberry, that's why when I know that there's no strawberry nor raspberry for the cake, I thought, "then what about the red color and name? where is it from?". I know that might be seem silly, but I'm just a traditional Indonesian woman whose ears don't hear about beet that much :D
Later on, I know that this cake is Oprah's fav! And Oprah's mine! hehe.... So, I searched and searched and finally found 2 basic recipes for this. One using beet for its red color and the other using food color. I know that we should avoid chemical ingredients as much as we can, but it's not that easy to find beet, also it takes more effort to process it (yeah, lazy me strikes back), so......I decided to use the second recipe, the one using food coloring, instead.
oh yeah, I almost forget, the one thing that makes this cake so special, is that basically IT'S A RED CHOCOLATE CAKE. It uses chocolate, but the color is red. Amazing, right? Haha.... Anyway, the recipe is from www.joyofbaking.com with a little changes since not everything is available (i'll explain later). So, here's the recipe..
Red Velvet Cake
2 1/2 cups (250 grams) sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (15 grams) regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar 2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk -- I used 1 cup milk + 2 tbs lemon juice
2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar -- I used ordinary kitchen vinegar: 1 part kitchen vinegar + 9 parts water
1 teaspoon baking soda
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) tub of Mascarpone cheese, room temperature -- didn't use it coz didn't have any :p
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (115 grams) confectioners' (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted
1 1/2 (360 ml) cups cold heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat)
Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter two - 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
In bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.
In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the refrigerator for at least an hour (or overnight). (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)
Cream Cheese Frosting: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and mascarpone cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to spread. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.
Assemble: With a serrated knife, cut each cake layer in half, horizontally. You will now have four cake layers. Place one of the cake layers, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter. Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting. Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers. Frost the top and sides of the cake. Can garnish the cake with sweetened or unsweetened coconut.
Serves 10 - 12 people.
