Red Velvet Cake The Shortcut Recipes

RED VELVET CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F (all oven types). Butter 2 x 21cm / 8" round cake pans (sides and base) and dust with cocoa powder.
• Sift the Dry Ingredients and whisk to combine in a bowl.
• Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with electric beater or in stand mixer until smooth and well combined (use paddle attachment if using stand mixer).
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating in between to combine. At first it will look curdle - keep beating until it's smooth.
• Add vegetable oil, vinegar, vanilla, buttermilk and red food colouring. Beat until combined and smooth (Note 5).
• Add Dry Ingredients. Beat until just combined - some small lumps is ok, that's better than over mixing.
• Divide batter between cake pans. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes on the same shelf, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. (Note 6)
• Rest for 10 minutes in the pan then turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool.

RED VELVET CAKE - THE SHORTCUT RECIPE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of 13x9x2 pan* with shortening. I use baker's joy spray or pam for baking spray - you know the kind that has the oil and flour in the can?. Just don't use regular pam.
• Beat all ingredients in a large bowl with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat on medium speed 1 minute, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan(s).
• Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool.
• Cooked Frosting.
• 1 cup milk.
• 1/3 cup Flour.
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened to room temperature.
• 1 cup powdered sugar 1 tsp vanilla.
• Stir milk and flour in sauce pan until blended. Heat over medium heat til thickened. Cover and refrigerate about 15 minutes or until cool. Beat butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in medium bowl on medium speed until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture til blended. Frost cake.
• PS - some people like cream cheese frosting with the Red Velvet, but the cooked frosting is traditional. Just use what you like.
• * I've used two 9 inch round cake pans with this recipe no problem.
• Oh. And one trick I've learned with box cake mixes is, to slightly decrease the water , and increase the oil, which makes for a moister cake - in this case I'd probably decrease the water by one tablespoon or so, and increase the oil.
• Also, I've omitted the food coloring - and just used this as an easy way to make german chocolate cake - just change the frosting to the traditional coconut pecan frosting used for german choc cakes.... No one has ever noticed it wasn't homemade.
• One last note: I've used this recipe with Duncan Hines, and Betty Crocker cake mixes.

SOUTHERN RED VELVET CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour three 9 by 1 1/2-inch round cake pans.
• In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.
• Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed.
• Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Place the pans in the oven evenly spaced apart. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pans, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
• Remove the cakes from the oven and run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the sides of the pans. One at a time, invert the cakes onto a plate and then re-invert them onto a cooling rack, rounded-sides up. Let cool completely.
• Frost the cake. Place 1 layer, rounded-side down, in the middle of a rotating cake stand. Using a palette knife or offset spatula spread some of the Cream Cheese Frosting over the top of the cake. (Spread enough frosting to make a 1/4 to 1/2-inch layer.) Carefully set another layer on top, rounded-side down, and repeat. Top with the remaining layer and cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting. Sprinkle the top with the pecans.
• In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand-held electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.)
• Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy (scrape down the bowl occasionally). Store in the refrigerator until somewhat stiff, before using. May be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.

RED VELVET CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 9-inch cake pans by buttering lightly and sprinkling with 1 tablespoon sifted cocoa powder, tapping pans to coat and discarding extra cocoa. (This recipe can also be made in 2 9-inch cake pans.)
• Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time and beat vigorously until each is incorporated. Mix in vanilla.
• In a separate bowl, make a paste of the remaining 2 tablespoons cocoa and the food coloring. Blend into butter mixture.
• Sift together remaining dry ingredients. Alternating in 2 batches each, add dry ingredients and buttermilk to the butter mixture. In the last batch of buttermilk, mix in the vinegar before adding to the batter. Mix until blended.
• Divide batter among 3 pans and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on a rack completely.
• To assemble, remove 1 cake from its pan and place flat side down on a serving platter. Drop about 1 cup of icing onto cake and, using a flat spatula, spread evenly over top. Remove the second cake from its pan. Place flat side down on top of first layer. Use remaining frosting to cover top and sides of cake.

RED VELVET CAKE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base and sides of two 20cm cake tins with baking parchment - if your cake tins are quite shallow, line the sides to a depth of at least 5cm.
• Put half each of the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarb, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix well. If there are any lumps in the sugar, squeeze these through your fingers to break them up.
• Mix half each of the buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract, food colouring and 100ml water in a jug. Add 2 eggs and whisk until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until well combined. The cake mixture should be bright red, it will get a little darker as it cooks. If it's not as vivid as you'd like, add a touch more colouring. Pour the cake mixture evenly into the two tins, and bake for 25-30 mins, or until risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack, peel off the baking parchment and leave to cool.
• Repeat steps 1 and 2 with the remaining ingredients, so you have four sponge cakes in total. Can be made up to three days ahead and will stay moist if wrapped in cling film, or you can wrap well and freeze for up to two months.
• To make the icing, put the butter in a large bowl and sieve in half the icing sugar. Roughly mash together with a spatula, then whizz with a hand mixer until smooth. Add the soft cheese and vanilla, sieve in the remaining icing sugar, mash together again, then blend once more with the hand mixer.
• To assemble the cake, stick one of the sponges to a cake stand or board with a little of the soft cheese icing. Use roughly half the icing to stack the remaining cakes on top, spreading a generous amount between each layer. Pile the remaining icing on top of the assembled cake, and use a palette knife to ease it over the edges, covering the entire surface of the cake. Tidy the plate with a piece of kitchen paper. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 2 days, but bring back to room temperature for an hour or so before eating.This recipe was refreshed in July 2018 based on user feedback. For the original recipe, see our beetroot cake.

GRANDMA'S RED VELVET CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in food coloring, vinegar and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition., Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Cool layers 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. , For frosting, combine water and cornstarch in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until thickened and opaque, 2-3 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Beat butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in cornstarch mixture. Gradually add confectioners' sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Spread between layers and over top and sides of cake.