Red Velvet Cake Recipe – Cake Decorating Series

We start our cake decorating series by making a classic red velvet cake. This cake has recently become more popular due to its resurgence in the movie “Steel Magnolias”, where the groom’s cake was a red velvet cake made in the shape of an armadillo. It has also become popular with cake decorators to use for a variety of special occasion cakes.

In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be showing you how to decorate a cake from start to finish including: how to make your own fondant, butter cream frosting, fondant roses and more! Be sure to check back each week as we add something new to this red velvet cake.

Directions:

Yield: Two 8″ round cakes

1. Prepare your cake pans by spraying them with cooking spray and then line the bottom with parchment paper. You can grease the pans with shortening if you like and dust with flour instead of using parchment paper.
2. Mix together the shortening and sugar until creamed together.
3. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix together until well combined.
4. In another small bowl combine together the flour, cocoa and salt to make a bowl of dry ingredients.
5. Now we are going to alternately add and mix the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the egg and sugar mixture. Add about one third of the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Add half of the buttermilk and mix until well combined. Continue in this pattern until all of the dry ingredients and buttermilk are combined.
6. In a small dish, add the vinegar. Add the baking soda to create a small reaction. Combine this new mixture with the cake batter and mix well.
7. Add the red food coloring to the cake batter and mix well. Make sure to scrap the sides of your bowl to ensure that the cake batter is thoroughly mixed.
8. Divide the batter evenly between your two cake pans and smooth until level in the pan.
9. Place in a 350° oven to cook for approximately 30 mins, or until the cake springs bake when lightly touched.

The video below is quite thorough and I think will be quite helpful in showing the process. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments and be sure to come back next week when we make some butter cream to add to the cake! ENJOY!!!