Red Velvet Cake

BACKLOG TIME. #1: a cake we made for our film professor's birthday. A group of students met her at a Buffy convention (we couldn't go because it was also Gabe's birthday) and gave her the cake. It turned out really really tasty, but sadly really messy. I vastly underestimated the time and effort required to paint an accurate set of portraits in frosting. But anyway, what it's supposed to be is a picture of Xander fantasizing Spike and Angel making out. If you squint really hard you can see it.






























Although it did not affect the taste, this cake is probably like 80% food coloring. The red dye got weird and striated when baked, check it out:
Red Velvet Cake Adapted from Pinchmysalt.com

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbs cocoa powder
2 oz. red food coloring
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat your oven to 350. Butter and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, mix the food coloring and cocoa powder to make a paste.

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla and the red cocoa paste. Add the flour and the buttermilk alternately in a few additions, starting and ending with flour.

In a small bowl, mix the vinegar and baking soda so that it fizzes. Add it to the cake batter immediately and stir well to combine. Working quickly, divide batter evenly between the cake pans and place them in the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool the cakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt

Beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Blend in powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Beat until light and fluffy.

The best way to get maximum, smooth frosting is to frost the whole thing once, refrigerate it until it stiffens up, and then frost it all over again.