RED VELVET CAKE

Red Velvet Cake
(adapted from The Confetti Cakes Cookbook by Elisa Strauss)
-makes three 9-inch layers, or 36-40 standard cupcakes

A few notes: As mentioned, I used a third of the prescribed amount of red food coloring and a perfectly acceptable shade of red was achieved, at least in my book.  If you're feeling extra festive (perhaps hosting a vampire party this Halloween?) or just want to spend those hard-earned dollars on even more food coloring, be my guest, but know that it's not necessary. Also, the recipe makes enough batter for three cake layers. I used two for the celebration cake and one for a treat to take to the office.  The icing recipe was enough to give healthy coats of icing for both cakes. Finally, I'm not sure why my cakes were brown and red marbled -- they were uniformly delicious tasting. I think I was afraid of waiting too long after the addition of the baking soda vinegar mixture and the pouring of the batter (I've heard stories of fallen red velvet cakes), but don't fret if yours, too, look like mine.

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
3 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process...Hershey's is the right stuff)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
6 Tablespoons (3 ounces) red food coloring or 1 teaspoon red gel food coloring dissolved in 6 Tablespoons of water
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Brush interior bottoms and sides of cake pans with butter and line bottoms with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, cocoa, and salt.
• Place oil and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended.  Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Be careful!!) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine, so that no white streaks remain.
• Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.
• Divide batter among pans equally if you intend to do a cake or pour on baking cups for cupcake. Place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes for cake and 25 to 30 minutes for cupcakes.  Let cool in pans 20 minutes.  Run a paring knife around the edges of the cake pans, then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting. Store in fridge, covered, up to 5 days. Before serving, let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

I used this recipe for frosting my cupcakes.

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