Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Love is in the air!!

I made this for my boyfriend for our post valentine's day celebration.

Red Velvet Cake recipe was adapted from JoyofBaking.com :

250g sifted cake flour

1/2 teaspoon salt *

15g cocoa powder

115 g butter, at room temperature

300g caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract, ( because I used homemade vanilla extract, I used 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, you could just use 1 teaspoon store bought vanilla extract )

240ml buttermilk

1 teaspoon red food colouring paste

1 tablespoon liquid red food colouring

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

* Omit the salt if you are using salted butter

1. Preheat oven to 175 C and place rack in the center of oven. Line two - 9 inch round sandwich pans with butter and bottoms of the pans with parchment paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, sift cocoa powder, salt and cake flour. Set aside.
3. Beat butter until soft (about 2minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy ( about 3minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time,beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla extract and beat until combined.
4. 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.
5. In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
6. 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 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.


7. 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).

Home made extract after a year of maturing.

Cream cheese frosting was adapted from Extraordinary Cakes: Recipes for Bold & Sophisticated Desserts

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, cube the butter

4 cups icing sugar,sifted

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

500g cream cheese, at room temperature

1. In a bowl, beat butter until light and pale. Add the sugar,one cup at a time and continue to beat until smooth and somewhat fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and then the cream cheese mixing until well combined and no cheese lumps.
2. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Measure out 5 cups of frosting, to be used in assembling the cake, and set aside. The remaining 2 cups of frosting can be kept for up to 3 days in air tight container in the refrigerator but must be brought to room temperature before using. I used the remaining cream cheese to frost my lychee cupcakes.