Everyone knows that Valentine’s day is coming up and as much as I was tempted to make very cute, heart-themed cupcakes, I decided on something with a little more bite to it: a red velvet cake. This layer cake is the epitome of contrasts: a deep, rich red sponge sandwiched between layers of pure white cream cheese icing. It’s impossible to cut a small slice of this cake, so don’t even try!
The intense colour of this cake is nowadays enhanced by food colouring. When it comes to food colouring, there are two options: gel food colourings such as the one in the image below that I used in my recipe, or liquid food colourings such as Dr Oetker that can be found in most supermarkets. The gel versions do cost more but you need a lot less of them to create an intense colour, meaning that the consistency of the cake isn’t affected. I get mine from The Finishing Touch on St Patrick Square, Edinburgh. If you are using the liquid colourings, you’ll require 2 bottles and will need to increase the flour in the recipe below by around 30g.
Serves 10–12
Preparation time 20 minutes; cooking time 25–30 minutes
Ingredients
110g butter, at room temperature
300g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
20g unsweetened cocoa powder
240ml buttermilk
2 tbsp red food colouring
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
For the Icing
500g icing sugar
200g full-fat cream cheese
175g butter
1 tsp lemon juice
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Method
Preheat the oven to 175 ºC and grease two 9-inch sandwich tins. In a mixing bowl beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and cocoa powder. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and food colouring. You may wish to wear an apron and rubber gloves at this stage just in case the food colouring manages to escape your bowl!
Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter, sugar and egg mixture, followed by half of the buttermilk, and mix to combine. Add another third of the flour, followed by the rest of the buttermilk, and combine before adding the final third of the flour and mixing.
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In a small bowl, combine the bicarbonate of soda and vinegar and allow to fizz before quickly stirring into the cake mixture. Working quickly, separate the mixture into the two greased pans and smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake in the preheated over for 25–30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the their tins for around 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. I tend to leave mine sitting upside down on the cooling racks to flatten the top of the cakes and make it easier to stack them later. Once the cakes are mostly cool, place a tea towel over the top and put in the fridge for around an hour. This will make cutting and icing the cakes easier later.
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While the cake is in the fridge, make the icing by beating the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add the lemon juice and icing sugar and beat until combined. You might need to add more icing sugar if the icing appears too watery, or more butter if the icing is too thick.
To assemble the cake, cut each cake in half so that you have four brightly coloured layers. Place one of the layers onto a serving plate and spread with icing. Place another layer on top and continue icing the cake and adding layers until all four layers are assembled. Ice the top and the sides of the cake, cut and serve a large slice to your loved one.
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