Instructions
- Step 1: Preheat oven Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour the cake pans.
- Step 2: Combine flour Combine the sifted flour and salt in a bowl.
- Step 3: Color the cocoa Pour the cocoa powder into a small bowl, add the red food coloring, and whisk until smooth.
- TIP: You can use the juice from one 15-oz. can of beets in place of the food coloring.
- Step 4: Cream the butter and sugar In a large bowl, beat one stick of butter and sugar by hand or with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time.
- Step 5: Add the flour Switch your mixer speed to low and add the flour a few tablespoons at a time. Alternate mixing flour with adding the buttermilk, vanilla extract, and dyed cocoa paste. Mix the ingredients until all the batter is the same red color, but do not overbeat.
- Step 6: Mix in the vinegar In a small bowl, stir the baking soda into the vinegar, and then fold it into the batter with a wooden spoon.
- Step 7: Bake the cake Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes; then invert the layers onto a rack to cool completely.
- Step 8: Make the frosting Make the frosting by beating the cream cheese with one stick of butter until creamy. Beat in 1 tablespoon of vanilla. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Step 9: Apply a crumb coating When the cake has cooled, place the first layer on your cake plate or stand, spread frosting on top with a spatula, add the next layer, frost the top of that, and so on. Once you’ve added the final cake layer, spread a thin coating of frosting over the entire cake to contain crumbs, and then refrigerate it for 15 minutes.
- Step 10: Finish frosting Finish frosting the cake by spreading the frosting on top and on the sides. Decorate the top with pecan halves if you like.
- FACT: Tradition has it that a chef at New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria hotel invented red velvet cake in the 1950s. But it is also rumored to be a southern, Civil War-era invention.
You Will Need
- 2.25 c all-purpose flour
- sifted
- 1.0 tsp salt
- 2.0 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 1-ounce bottles of red food coloring
- 2 sticks of softened unsalted butter
- divided
- 1.5 c sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1.0 c buttermilk
- 3.0 tsp vanilla extract
- divided
- 1.0 tsp baking soda
- 1.0 tsp white vinegar
- 2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
- softened
- 2.0 c powdered sugar
- 3 9-inch round cake pans
- Bowls
- A whisk
- A wooden spoon
- Cooling rack
- Cake plate
- A spatula
- 15-ounce can of beets (optional)
- Electric mixer (optional)
- Pecan halves (optional)
